Your Questions

Thank you for many hours of reading pleasure and trips to other times and places. A couple of idle questions for a rainy day: How do the Sharpe's books do in France? Is the delay in the Starbuck books due in part to a glut of Civil War novels or to difficulties in having the hero on the "wrong" side in this politically correct world? What is the tiniest nit someone has picked in one of your books? Just curious! M. Walsh

Having read Sarpe's Escape and then gone straight onto Eagle, I noticed an error (please don't kill me!). Rifleman Pendleton is there in Escape as one of the two youngest members of Sharpe's Light Company (in 1810), but he was killed off in Eagle, at Talavera (in 1809). Sorry to do this to you!!! Are you planning on writing any more Sharpe books with Sweet William in them? He's a great character and deserves more screen time than he's got. I can only read Enemy and Siege so many times before they fall apart at the spine! Keri Tolhurst

Dear Mr Cornwell I have been a fan of your work ever since the first Sharpe programmes appeared on the television. I have purchased a number of your books and at present are going through the Sharpe novels in historical order. I have recently been given the dvd set of the fourteen Sharpe episodes and included in this series are two that do not appear in your list of the Sharpe novels. They are Sharpe's Mission and Sharpe's justice. Are these part of other stories and if so which or were they written just for the television company and where do they fit into the historical order. Regards Richard Cattell

Dear Bernard, first of all I must apolgize for the jumbled message of my earlier post. It was meant to be British perspective during the American Revolution.#################### Btw at Albuera will Sharpe be with the Die Hards or the Fuzilier Brigade and will he be on his own with Harper or with whole South Essex??? Also will Sharpe finally find out about Astrid's murderer Pumphery's using of him??? And while you are right that it might be awkward it's not impossible since I did read in Flecthers Bloody Albuera that a 60th rifleman (forgot the name) did manage to fight at both Fuentes and Albuera####### Also I can recommend British at the Gates by Robin Rielly as worth a read. Geriant

Dear Mr Cornwell I am about half way through Havoc, and am enjoying it immensly. However I do get the impression it is....how can I put it, slightly anti european in nature. Is this a deliberate ploy, especially with the European Parliamentary elections about to take place in the UK? Ian White

Bernard, I really enjoy the books. What happened to Jane, Sharpe's wife? She's last seen at Waterloo, and supposedly pregnant, I seem to recall that she would suffer fate worse than death, I can't remember where that came from. Just being Nosey, thanks Robert Reid

How do you square the (apparent) death of Hakeswill in the snakepit and his "reappearance" in Spain/Portugal in an earlier (though historically later) book? might be difficult to track the multitude of characters after decades of writing. Dave

Dear Mr Cornwell, What exactly did happen to Obadiah Hakeswill after he was pushed into the snake pit at Gawilghur? We hear about his escape from the gallows, his invulnerability towards the musket bullets of friend and foe alike, his lucky survival from the tigers and his escape from being crushed by an elephant. Did you purposely leave the escape from the snakes to the readers' imagination, adding to the legend that was Obadiah?! Toby

Mr Cornwell, I love your books especially the Starbuck and Arthur ones. You write excellent supporting female characters - why don't you pick some glam military heroine and write about her as the main character? Amanda Clarke-Prebble

Mr. Cornwell, I have been reading your Sharpe series (I am reading Sharpe's Siege right now), and I have also read "Rebel." It seems like the characters think about religion quite a bit. --It also seems like the subject is presented in many different moods. Some of your characters seem very angry about religion, some seem to use religion to manipulate people, some have a peace from it. Because of that, it is very difficult to get a sense of how you feel about religion. Richard Sharpe, for example, claims to not be religious, but at times betrays an uncertainty regarding the existence of God. Then you have Nate Starbuck, who in the first book very strongly believes in the existence of God; but seems to be willfully setting out to go against God's law. Of course, it does not help that his father was a violent man. Anyway, that is just to illustrate the presence of religion in your books. So, I was wondering how big a part religion plays in your life or in your past? --I do enjoy your books. I learn a lot from them, and I am impressed by the research that goes into understanding the battlefield. I have read almost all your Sharpe books. I still have to read Sharpe's Revenge, Sharpe's Waterloo, Sharpe's Devil, and Sharpe's Escape; as well as the short stories. Thanks for providing such an interesting way to study history. I plan on continuing reading your books, probably I will read the Warlord series next. Kelly

Sir, Once again thank you. Thank you for not only writing a truly brilliant novel - I have just finished Sharpe's Seige - but also thank you for continuing to educate and inform. In Sharpe's Seige you make reference to a signpost that has had the mile figure erased to be replaced by the amount in kilometres. I never imagined that kilometres actually went as far back as the early 1800's but there you go. I have a question for you. For me what makes your books so superior to any other author I have read are two things. Firstly, your telling of action and battles is first class. It is almost as if the reader is there deep in the middle of the action. At times it takes your breath away. Secondly, the dialogue is wonderful. It can be funny or touching or dramatic, but it is always believable and very easily readable. The dialogue in Sharpe's Seige where Sharpe wants Harper to let him pull his bad tooth is excellent. Which do you find the easist - the action or the dialogue? Which comes first when you are plotting and drafting a new novel? Which do you feel is the most important? Which do you enjoy writing the most? Thankyou again. Barry Evans