 It was published by The Sharpe Appreciation Society  in 2003 in order to raise funds for The Bernard and Judy Cornwell Foundation.This novel contains two stories that take place at different times, thus in an interview with the author, the book was left unnumbered in the Sharpe’s series.The two short stories, "Sharpe's Christmas" and "Sharpe's Ransom", contained within this book were originally written for British newspaper the Daily Mail which serialised them during Christmas seasons of 1994 and 1995 respectively.