Sharpe's Eagle — Bernard Cornwell

RICHARD SHARPE FEARLESS SOLDIER, RUTH LESS ENEMY, AND PASSIONATE LOVER

Captain Richard Sharpe--bold, professional, and ruthless--is leading his battle-hardened veterans against Napoleon at Talavera in the bloodiest Peninsula battle yet. Sharpe has fought his way out of the enlisted ranks and earned his captaincy. But others--such as his uncle, Colonel Henry Simmerson, and the foppish Lieutenant Gibbons--are incompetents who bought their commissions. After their cowardly loss of the regimental King's Colour, their resentment of the upstart Sharpe turns to outright treachery.

Now Sharpe must reclaim the King's Colour and redeem the regiment and himself through the audacious capture of the most valued prize in the French army--a golden Imperial Eagle--the standard touched by the hand of Napoleon himself.