Books and biography of Cornwall Bernard

Bernard Cornwell became famous with the Adventures of Richard Sharp. But, in addition to books about the brave soldier of the Royal Forces, the author has several historical series, which also became bestsellers.

Childhood

Looking at the open and good-natured Cornwall Bernard, you can not say that this man had a difficult childhood. He was born during the war, in 1943. Father, a Canadian pilot, returned to Canada. The vicar of the mother sent him a letter about the birth of the child, but no reply was received. And what could a lonely young girl who served in the Air Force do? So Bernard became one of the five adopted children of the wealthy Wiggins family.

Foster parents were members of a fundamental Protestant church. Joe's father often punished the boy. “He was a good man,” Cornwall recalls, “he was just trying to drive God into me.” At seven, the boy went to study at a preparatory school, then there was a boarding school, which became for him a sanctuary of common sense. To escape from a sect where the ban was all that he liked, Bernard entered the Department of Theology at the University of London.

At home, television was banned, and naturally the BBC attracted him. He began working as a reporter under the pseudonym Bernard Cornwell. He bore the name Wiggins and, while Joe was alive, he did not change it. “Because it was tantamount to a slap in the face, but he did not deserve it,” the writer says. Cornwell is the name of his mother. The pseudonym Bernard legitimized and made his name.

As a child, he accidentally discovered documents in the house containing the names of his real parents. He never looked for them, but when he turned fifty, he met them. Father William Ogred was married and lived in Canada. Dorothy's mother also got married. So, suddenly, Bernard had six brothers and a sister whom he never knew. “For the first time in my life, I was with people who looked like me, who laughed like me, and had the same gait,” the writer says.

Personal life

In the late 1970s, when he divorced his first wife, Cornwall Bernard moved to Belfast to work as a producer for the BBC. In 1978, a group of tourists from the United States visited Northern Ireland. The crew, in which Bernard was, came to Edinburgh to shoot them. When the hotel door opened and Judy's travel agent stepped out, Bernard turned to his colleague and said that he would marry her. He kept his word.

He left the BBC and moved to New Jersey, where Judy lived with her three children from her first marriage, but Bernard was denied the Green Card. Unable to get a job, he began to write his first novel about Sharpe. The London literary agent he found rejected the manuscript on the grounds that no one would want to read about the British Army. But a chance meeting with Agent Toby Go at the parade in New York was decisive - Bernard's first novel was soon published.

Cornwall Bernard has a happy marriage. The family spends the summer in Chatham, Massachusetts, where they have two houses, and the winter in Charleston, South Carolina. Cornwell revels in his contrasting marriage. Judy is a vegetarian, practicing yoga, a parishioner of the local episcopal church, he is an atheist. She eats salad, drinks Perrier and swims a mile a day. He smokes Villiger cigars, swears like a soldier, and drinks whiskey.

Sharp's debut

“You write what you want to read,” says Cornwell. To the creation of the first cycle about Richard Sharpe, the writer was led by love for a series of novels by S. Forestster about Hornblower, captain of the Royal Navy. Bernard really wanted to read about the "land" Hornblower. He was looking for such a novel in all bookstores, in the hope that someone wrote it. And once I thought, why he himself would not create such a story, because this is a gap on the bookshelf. Thus began the adventures of Sharpe.

The cycle of "The Adventures of Richard Sharp" by Bernard Cornwell includes twenty-four novels. The works were written in different years, so it is more convenient to place them in chronological order. The battle path of the royal shooter begins at the end of the 18th century, when Britain waged war in India. A child and a former thief, Richard from the very beginning wants to desert. But everything changes when he is sent to the den of the enemy. His superiors reward him for a successful operation and increase his rank. Four novels have been written about Indian events:

1. Sharp's Tiger Arrow (1997).
2. “The Sharp's Triumph” (1998).
3. “Sharp Sharp Fortress” (1999).
4. “Trafalgar Sharp Sharp” (2001).

The hero, who took part in the most important naval battle, is sent on a secret mission to Copenhagen. The book “Sharp's Shooting” (2002) tells how he frustrates the French and goes to Spain. In the novel “Sharp's Shotgun” (1988), Spanish cavalrymen will help Richard escape captivity, and French troops are trying to take control of the Iberian Peninsula.

In Sharp's Shooter War (2003), a soldier will receive a secret mission, but Richard’s unit is defeated and loses the banner. Only the French standard, the golden eagle to be captured, will help restore honor. Will the hero manage to fulfill this mission, the writer Bernard Cornwell will tell in the novel "Sharp's Shooter Eagle" (1981).

Sharp Shooter Battles

The British army is defeated and on the verge of rebellion, since the leadership does not have money to pay. Sharp's loyal soldier is sent for the gold thrown by the Spaniards. But, as stated in the novel “The Sharpshooter Gold” (1981), not only Richard is hunting for treasures. In the book “The Sharpshooter Sharp” (2004), the brave soldier appears envious. Napoleon’s army, meanwhile, wins one after another, and Sharpe will fight for two more long years in Portugal and Spain:

• “The Fury of the Sharp Shooter” (2006).
• “The Battle of Sharpe” (1995).
• The Sharpe Company (1982).
• Sharpe's Blade (1983).
• the story "Sharp Shootout" (2002).
• Sharpe's Enemy (1983).
• “Sharp's Honor” (1985).

In the novel "Sharp's Regiment" (1986), the hero briefly returns to England. In the story “Sharpe's Christmas” (2003), a brave and loyal soldier is sent to the border of France and Spain. Three books will tell about the battles of Colonel Sharpe in France now: Sharpe's Siege (1987), Sharpe's Revenge (1989) and Sharpe's Waterloo (1990). In the story "Sharpe's Redemption" (2003), he will remain to celebrate Christmas in Normandy, and in the last novel of this series, "Sharpe's Devil" (1992) will go to Chile.

Historical chronicles

In a series about Nathaniel Starbuck, the author talks about the war of the North and South in America. In the first book, The Rebel (1993), Nathaniel, a guy from the North, arrives in the capital of the Confederation, joins an elite unit and fights on the side of the southerners. He participates in battles, but the northern origin of the hero cannot be hidden. In the novel "Defector" (1994) he will be called a spy and will begin to pursue. To whitewash his name, Nathaniel will have to go to the territory of the enemy and find a real traitor. The third book, The Battle Banner (1995), is about one of the most decisive battles of that war. In the final novel, Bloody Land (1996), the author talks about the Battle of Sharpsberg, which remained in the memory of the Americans as the bloodiest day of the Civil War.

In the four novels of the Grail Quest series, Cornwell Bernard talks about the Hundred Years War. In the first part of Harlequin (2000), archer Thomas, the son of the deceased abbot, vows to return the relic stolen by Harlequin’s gang. The second book, The Wanderer (2002), describes the ruthless and fierce battles of the British and French. Devastated by war, France is on the verge of destruction. In the territory where there are bloody battles, Thomas is looking for a shrine that can bestow victory. In the third part of The Heretic (2003), Thomas, wandering in search of the Holy Grail, finds himself in the kingdom of the plague. The Centennial War is in full swing, the archer is ordered to find the sword of St. Peter. Near the city of Poitiers, the British army set a trap. One of the greatest battles of this war is described in the final novel, 1356 (2012).

The King Arthur series begins with King of the Winter (1995), in which chaos is about to engulf Britain. Once in the ring of barbarians, the Britons understand that there is no place to wait for help. But Arthur, the great commander who will repel the invasion, will come. In order to call for help of the old gods, the druid Merlin in the second part of “Enemy of God” (1996) will search for the Thirteen Treasures. Christians will declare Arthur an enemy of God. Lancelot’s rebellion weakens Arthur’s power, but he owns one of the treasures - Excalibur, which the reader learns from the final book Excalibur (1997).

Saxon Chronicles

Bernard Cornwell, in a cycle of ten books, tells of the struggle between the Danes and the Norwegians, who questioned the existence of Britain. But King Alfred the Great intends to defend its independence. In the first book, The Last Kingdom (2004), the reader becomes acquainted with the main character Utred. Raised by the Danes as a Viking, he is faced with a choice - to defend his native land or to side with the conquerors. In the novel The Poor Horseman (2005), he makes a choice. The third book, The Lord of the North (2006), tells of Utred's journey to the north of the island.

“Song of the Heavenly Sword” (2007) tells of a truce between the Danes and King Alfred, who instructs the military commander Utred to recapture the Norwegians who captured him and present him as a wedding gift to his daughter. The rebellious warlord wants to regain clan possession and not depend on anyone. In the novel Burning Land (2009), King Alfred tries, by hook or by crook, to force the military leader to serve him. About his devotion and choice, when Alfred lies on his deathbed, tells the book "Death of the Kings" (2011).

After the death of Alfred, power passes to his son Edward. Utred fell out of favor with the new king, the novel “Pagan Lord” (2012) tells of his struggle for his possessions. In The Empty Throne (2013), the kingdom is plunged into turmoil, and Vikings come from the west to devastate the country. They team up with the Irish and move north. Their head is the fierce warrior Ragnall, whose brother is married to the daughter of Utred. In the novel Warriors of the Storm (2014), the protagonist faces a difficult choice between family and devotion. The Saxon Chronicles is completed by Bernard Cornwell with the novel Carrying Fire (2016), where he will tell whether Utred will be able to regain his ancestral possessions.

Cornwell Books

Bernard Cornwell is probably the most famous and widely read author of historical books. Cornwell conducts a huge number of studies and as accurately as possible “fits” them into the plot. Fiction and the historical component, like puzzles, are closely adjusted to each other, and there are no roughnesses and irregularities. Characters and locations are clearly spelled out, nothing more, everyone has an individuality and is easy to remember.

The author is primarily a storyteller, and his duty is to tell a story. Cornwell copes with this perfectly: the language is easy, he describes the battle scenes dynamically, and he devotes special attention to weapons. He so skillfully draws the details that the reader in the novels of Bernard Cornwell from the very first lines plunges into the events described by the author.