SHARPE'S ESCAPE—Bernard Cornwell—A great thing about Cornwell's books is the amount of detail of life and living during the time and circumstances he weaves into his novels. To be sure, the “Sharpe” series, as the “Saxon” series, deal greatly with wars and battles, but they interweave much information about common life during these uncommon times. Sharpe's Escape unfolds in 1810 Portugal as Napoleon attempts to move from Spain to take the remainder of the peninsula. The British join with the Portuguese to keep L'Emperor from finishing grabbing the remainder of Europe and of course, hero Sharpe, is instrumental in defeating the “Frogs”. Not quite abandoning his position, Sharpe works with some locals (and in one instance a lovely lady) to try to keep the French from gaining a huge amount of food and supplies, enough to keep the army fed during what will become a long, cold winter.