Sharpe's Havoc
First edition cover
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| Author | Bernard Cornwell |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Richard Sharpe |
| Genre | Historical novels |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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Publication date
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2003 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) and audio-CD |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 58554408 |
| Preceded by | Sharpe's Rifles |
| Followed by | Sharpe's Eagle |
Sharpe's Havoc: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Oporto is the seventh historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 2003.
The story is set largely in Portugal during General Arthur Wellesley's Oporto Campaign in 1809, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, leading his men of the 95th Rifles in retreat from the French victory at Oporto, are unexpectedly saved by a small detachment of Portuguese soldiers led by Lt. Jorge Vincente, a law student who joined his country's army out of patriotism. Despite his bitter hatred of lawyers, Sharpe gradually comes to respect Jorge's bravery in combat.
While the British Army is in retreat, Sharpe and his men are ordered to help retrieve a young Englishwoman, Kate Savage, the daughter of a prominent port merchant, recently deceased. For unknown reasons, she decided not to flee the city with her mother.
In going to retrieve Kate, Sharpe and his men are caught up in the scheming of "Colonel" Christopher, a turncoat spy for the British Foreign Office. Initially sent to Portugal to investigate the possibility that Marshal Soult might decide to declare himself King of Portugal (and thus cut himself off from Napoleon), Christopher has instead decided to use the situation to his own enrichment.
On the one hand, he acts as agent provacateur, encouraging rebellious officers of the French Army to conspire against "King Nicolas," and then, when the time is right, offers to expose all of them to Soult, demanding a monopoly on the port trade in return (Christopher confidently expects the French to win the war, and thus to be the permanent rulers of Portugal).
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