just finished the Lords of the North. Loved every page and can't wait for the next instalment. I think Uthred has become my favourite character from all your works . keep up the good work, love to you and your wife.
Russ Kershaw
Bulletin Board
Just read on the website the wonderful news. In these times where honours seem to be given to the most mundane of individuals it is truly heartening to see one given to so richly deserving of a recipient. Well deserving it may be but also well overdue. Hearty congratulations.
Dave Bruford
Dear Mr Cornwell, As I have said many times before, I do love your books, but as an historian and reenactor of the Celtic Iron Age, Romano-British and Anglo Saxon periods,I do find some things in your Arthur/Saxon books jar a little. You, or whoever reads these things first, is probably going to think I'm a complete geek, but when you are willingly suspending disbelief, immersed in the created world of a book, it breaks the spell somewhat to come across some thing you know to be untrue. And these two things really gall me: i) You often refer to rusty chainmail being worn. Now mail that is used regularly doesn't get rusty. It's quite handy really, the way the little links rub and move against each other, and keep themselves clean.It only rusts if left for a while in damp conditions. ii)The other thing is the blithe way in which people remove chain mail in your books. Have you ever worn mail? It weighs upwards of forty pounds, and not in one easily lifted lump either. Trying to lift a mail shirt over your head is a sure way to leave yourself undefended as you grapple with the sliding,slithering, weighty mass. The professional way is to bend over as if touching your toes and haul it up a little from the bottom. It's own weight does the trick then, sending it cascading down around your ears in no time, to fall in a neat heap at your feet. So, that's it really. Anoraking, trainspotting, whatever you want to call it out of the way. Have just finished Uhtred's latest travails, loved it, and am looking out for Sharpe's Fury! Thanks for a grand ride. Yours sincerely, Mari Hannigan.
I do try to convey how heavy the things were...sorry I've offended you.
About a year ago I discovered your books. Today I finished reading all of them (saved the Sharpe series for the last). You are a great story teller, thank you. Looking forward to any new ones. Hal Pearson
Hi Mr B Cornwell, just a fast note from downunder in New Zealand to say thank you for your great work, I just can't put your books down. Again thanks. Craig Emslie
Dear Mr. Cornwell: I can't wait for "Sharpe's Fury" to be released in September. As you probably know, BBC America is showing Sharpe's Adventures all through the summer. When I found out they are also showing "Sharpe's Challenge" I was beside myself. I csn't wait for that either. Are you planning to watch the World Cup's "Napoleonic rematch" between Spain and France? :) Sean Storrs
This is terrible - your question didn't reach me until after it was over. Sorry. But France won't win the cup.
Dear Mr. Cornwell, my name is Atharva. I live in Mumbai, India. I borrowed Heretic and Sharpe's Tiger from my library, and being a fan of historical fiction (I hadn't heard of you before I saw these books),devoured them both in two days. Now the library dosen't have all the Sharpe books, and it is not always possible to borrow the ones that it does have, because most of them are always lent out (turns out you are immensely popular in India, too). So, seeing as the Sharper series is a huge one, is it necessary to read it in chronological order to understand the story and characters, or can I read them as and when they are available and still be able to get along fine? And are there going to be more of Sharpe's Indian adventures? By the way, in your historical note, you say that the Tipoo is out of the mainstream of modern Indian tradition because he was a Muslim and spoke Persian. I would like to say that Indians do not want all their heroes to be Hindu. I could quote many examples of national heroes who were not Hindus, but are still honoured. The term Hindu does not equal Indian. The former is only a small part of the latter. The 'educated' Indian you refer to in the note must be an exception, not the rule. I look forward to reading more of your books.
I'm delighted you say that. So thank you! It was odd writing that book because the Tippoo, in British tradition, had become a villainous figure of monstrous proportions, and of course he was not that. I came to admire much of what he had done, and probably Sharpe's Tiger was not the right vehicle to express that! He was a considerable man who struggled very hard to be enlightened. I found he was being put forward as a fore-runner of Indian independence, and that, I think, is a mistake. He hated the British (with cause, because they cheated and, in the end, manipulated him into war), but he hated lots of his neighbouring states as well! He's a warlord and, in the end, an attractive rogue. I rather like him.
Heartiest congratulations on your OBE. The best thing I read all weekend was your article in the Mail On Sunday, and the best news I had was that the Saxon series are to number eight. I look forward to putting the cat and the wife out, getting the wine in and settling down to the latest! Thank you for all your books. John Childs. Canterbury. Kent.
Hi! Earlier today, I was in a bookstore in a town in Hungary (I am a Hungarian who lives in the U.S. but I go home to hungary every summer). I was surprised to see some of your books in Hungarian. I look forward to reading them in Hungarian! I wonder if They'll be as good as in in English. Best wishes, Aron Rimanyi
Hi Mr. Cornwell: In a June 28th posting, Geraint asked you about books on Banastre Tarlton. The definitive biography is "The Green Dragoon: The Lives of Banastre Tarlton and Mary Robinson" by Robert D. Bass. It is currently in print and available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. Alan Kempner