Copperhead cover

Copperhead

by Bernard Cornwell

A copperhead is a turncoat – a northerner who sympathises with the South. Captain Nate Starbuck, forced out of his beloved Legion by the enmity of its founder, General Washington Faulconer, becomes caught up in a dangerous double game of espionage.A copperhead is a turncoat – a northerner who sympathises with the South. Captain Nate Starbuck, forced out of his beloved Legion by the enmity of its founder, General Washington Faulconer, becomes caught up in a dangerous double game of espionage.He is given no choice but to travel from a prison cell in Richmond, Virginia, to the secret centre of the high Northen command in a desperate attempt to thwart Yankee strategy which threatens to overwhelm the South.Starbuck plays a difficult and complex game of bluff and betrayal in a winner-takes-all effort to save his own life and return to the Legion – but at a high cost to his personal and professional loyalties as a friend and a man of war.

More by Bernard Cornwell

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?