Dear Mr. Cornwell, I think it is very considerate of you to make yourself available to what must be an enormous reading public, so I’ll try not to be too longwinded. I have a background in history (Temple University here in Philadelphia) and I enjoy watching programs on the BBC channel, PBS, etc. It was on some such channel that I first saw a Sharpe program, thoroughly enjoyed it, and began reading the series. Since that time I have read, I believe, all of the Sharpe novels, the Arthur series, and the Saxon stories. I suppose I really just want to thank you for giving me so many hours of enjoyment through your writing. If I am in the enviable state of being in the middle of one of your books, no matter how awful my day at work is proving to be I can sustain myself with the knowledge that in a few hours time I will be at my kitchen table, my dogs at my feet, a cold beer at my elbow, utterly lost in a different, more colorful and exciting time. You truly are a remarkable storyteller, and I am grateful that you and the bare handful of others like you exist and make so many drab and colorless lives endurable. May I be so impertinent as to ask you what books and authors you yourself enjoy (assuming, that is, that you have much time for reading)? And may I also commend you for what I at least see as your healthy, cynical view of the Christian faith? Having been raised as a Catholic and slapped around by nuns for much of my childhood I am no friend to organized religion of any sort, and I find the fact that so many Christian characters in your novels are oily hypocrites indescribably refreshing! Sincerely, Thomas Brett p.s. I am looking forward very much to seeing where Uhtred’s bloodsoaked paths next lead him!