Lady Grace Hale appeared in Sharpe's Trafalgar. She was born Grace de Laverre Gould, the third daughter of the Earl of Selby and a distant cousin to Arthur Wellesley. She was described as tall, thin, and pale with black hair and large green eyes. Well-read, spoke French, German, and Latin as well as naval navigation. She was also a good chess player. Her father was a wastrel, and and her mother was described as a garrulous fool who compelled her to marry Lord William Hale, an aristocrat and diplomat twenty years her senior, for his money. They were passengers aboard the same ship, Calliope, traveling from India to England, that carried also Ensign Richard Sharpe.
Lady Grace initially appeared cold and distant, but Sharpe thought her beautiful. Within a few days of their being thrown together, they spoke once or twice, when she told him that she hated India, that it had killed her two dogs, and her three month old son. Sharpe offered his sympathy, and then kissed her. She responded, marking the beginning of a very passionate and very difficult affair. Since her husband took laudanum to sleep, he apparently was the only one on board who was not aware of the discreet cabin visits she made to Sharpe.
The jealous and petty secretary to her husband, Braithwaite, tried to blackmail Sharpe, but Sharpe threatened instead to kill the man should a single word of scandal reach Lord Hale's ears. When the ship was captured by the French, the prize captain tried to rape Lady Grace, but Sharpe broke through a partition to rescue her and killed the man. The ship was then re-taken by the English. The Hales and Sharpe transferred to the frigate Pucelle, under Captain Joel Chase, a friend of Sharpe's. Lady Grace seemed much more remote after the transfer, and when Sharpe finally got a chance to speak to her, she said that Braithwaite was blackmailing her. Sharpe tracked the man below decks and broke his neck to protect Lady Grace.
When the ship found itself part of the fleet proceeding against the French and Spanish at Trafalgar, Lady Grace and her husband were sent to safety in the hold. Her husband had a letter from the now dead secretary detailing her affair with Sharpe. He told her he would kill her, and then destroy Sharpe; wreck his career and see him hang for whatever charge he could bring. She wept, frightened, but when he brought his weapon up, she killed him with a pistol that had been given to her by Sharpe. In the aftermath of the battle, Sharpe made sure Hale's body and the incriminating letter went over the side into the sea with all the other battle casualties.
Pregnant by Sharpe by this time, they used most of his wealth from India to rent an eight room house with property for them while her late husband's lawyers kept her from any inheritance. Sharpe put the house in her name in hopes of protecting her against the possibility of his death in the field. She charmed his new command, and spent a great deal of time trying to polish the rough edges off her lover. He told her of his history and she insisted that they one day go to the foundling home and make improvements. It was never to happen.
She died of child bed fever shortly after the birth of their son in the summer of 1806. Sharpe's son died shortly after his mother. She and Sharpe had been together only about ten or eleven months, and her loss left Sharpe shattered. Afterwards, Grace's brothers and lawyers seized Sharpe's wealth - claiming it was hers, and her short-lived son had been Hale's heir - leaving him penniless again.