Sharpe's Escape is the tenth novel in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, finding the hero embroiled in the British retreat through Portugal in 1810 from the defence of the Ridge at Bussaco to the Lines of Torres Vedras, where the French offensive was successfully halted.
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While the British and their Portuguese allies see off the French assault at Bussaco, Sharpe becomes embroiled in a private feud with the criminal Ferragus, whom he pursues from the abandoned town of Coimbra back towards the massive defensive works which Wellington has ordered built at Torres Vedras.