Sharpe’s Escape simply gives Bernhard Cornwell a chance to write about the battle of Bussaco. There is a more personal vendetta, of course, which gives Sharpe a chance to mimic the Tim Robbins escape through a sewer from Shawshank Redemption. Sharpe is fortunate enough to have company, including a beautiful naked woman, but it’s still foul. Actually, since this novel was written in 2004, I wonder if the Robbins “passage” wasn’t a direct inspiration for this part of the book. A bit of web-sleuthing did me no good in seeing if there has been other speculation or confirmation, since searching for books just brings up booksellers, most of the time. However, the search did turn up an unexpected tidbit: Boston Globe interview with Cornwell from 2004.