lacking in Sharpe. Garrard and Sharpe met in Sharpe's Tiger in the ranks. They both stayed in the army, but Garrard enlisted in the Portuguese Army where he was promoted to captain. We see the contrast between the reluctance of the British Army to have commissioned officers from the ranks, while the Portuguese army encourages the practice. Had Sharpe enlisted in the Portuguese army, he would likely have been a Major, instead of a captain. As it was Sharpe and Harper who blew up the magazine in Almeida in Sharpe's Gold, Garrard's selfless act is an interesting twist. After engaging in a scuffle in Loup's bedroom, Sharpe and Juanita have sex. She steals Perkins' jacket before she leaves the hideout. Perkins, a teenage Rifleman, is featured in the television series but this is the first novel (as written; second, per historical sequence) where he appears. In the first Sharpe novel written, Sharpe's Eagle, Cornwell features a teenage Rifleman named Pendleton (who dies at Talavera). In this novel, set two years after Talavera, Pendleton is again mentioned. This is likely a mistake by Cornwell, who has admitted not to have re-read "Eagle". In a similar vein, the earlier novel Sharpe's Rifles had featured a rifleman named Cooper who was killed during the retreat to Corunna. The character survived and became a recurring character in the television adaptations and reappears in this novel (and others set after Corunna) without any explanation. In a further nod to the television series, the novel is dedicated to Sean Bean who portrays Sharpe. Runciman never appears in any subsequent book and we are told was sent to England to become commander of the Militia. Film and TV adaptations This novel was dramatised on ITV in 1995 and is a relatively faithful adaptation of the novel. Ducos and Sarsfield do not appear in the film and Lord Kiely has a wife. The plot remains largely the same with regard to the French circulating newspapers describing imaginary massacres in Ireland by British troops in the hope that Irish soldiers will desert. Major Munro clearly reprises the role of Major Hogan in the novel. The film ends with the destruction of the Loup Brigade and does not deal with the events of Fuentes de Onoro. Kiely is killed by Loup in the film, rather than committing suicide; also Rifleman Perkins dies, while in the book he survives. External links