Bulletin Board

Mr. Cornwell, good evening –

I purchased and just completed reading your Waterloo book and must say I SO thoroughly enjoyed it.  I am a History fan of every period: Roman, American Revolution, WWI and WWII, but had not been educated very well in the Napoleonic Europe period.  This book gave me such a great insight into that time frame and specifically to those four days in Belgium.  I found your hour by hour battle description excellent.  The ‘Afterword’ section also bringing together the fate of the leading officers I also found helpful to see what became of their lives.  Your specific diary chronicles extracted gave such amazing extra color commentary to the brave men who were on that field below Mt. St. Jean.

Thanks for penning such a wonderful book!

My very best regards,

Brett Schneck

Hi,

I am just about the read your last book about Uhtred of Bebbanburg, I have found the whole series of books wonderful. I am a descendant of Alfred the Great through the Annesley family of Nottingham and them Castlewellan Northern Ireland, Lord Richard Annesley being my 4th great grandfather. I have been a fan of yours for many years with your books about King Arthur whom I have always sought after for stories since I was very young, I even have my own Excalibur sword and chain mail armour etc.

I just want to say thank you for your wonderful work and can't wait to see Uhtred regain his Bebbanburg (Bamburg Castle) which I only just visited this time last year.

Regards

Mitchell in Australia

Thank you thank you for the last kingdom series just finished warriors of the storm as with all the other in series could not put it down, did not want it to  end,  looking forward to the next book 😄

Suzanne Gay

Dear Mr Cornwell ,

Firstly thank you for such a remarkable book in " Waterloo ". I had already read all your Sharpe books and the wonderful series on Uhtred . However , during family research I discovered that my Great Great Grandfather served in the 1st Foot Guards under Lt. Colonel Maitland. Your book provided tremendous insight into the battle and where William Grist would have been stationed. The Grenadier Guards have provided me  with the muster roll for the Foot Guards after the battle and I have been able to ascertain that William was shot in the leg. He was discharged and I also have a copy of those papers. I have just returned from spending three days visiting the museums at Waterloo and walking the battle field. I could not have gained such insight without your book. Further I would not have been able to understand the pain and suffering of those who were there in a major event in our history.

Grateful thanks.

Stephen Grist

Bernard, if I may:

I've read about all of your books and thank you for them.

I just finished Warriors of the Storm and I have to say that I am getting a little worried that you or I (three years your senior) may not make it until Uhtred is enconced and comfortably retired in Bebbanburg.

Long (enough) life to both of us.

Jim Armstrong

Potter Valley CA

Mr. Cornwell

I own almost every one of your book. I myself am a military man and have a passion for history. As a youth and early in my adult years I found it boring to spend my evenings reading. However, since I discovered your works I have come to relish my time sitting and exploring the worlds of Starbuck, and Thomas of Hookton, Mr Sharpe, and my personal favorite Uhtred, to mention a few. I just want to say thank you for your works. I am excited to see what is in store for Uhtred in your next book!

Brian Bradshaw

Bernard:

Really enjoy reading your stuff. Especially the Richard Sharpe novels. I never get tired of his adventures, the battles, the fisticuffs, the tricks, the wenches, Sgt. Harper, the Duke, the descriptions and thrilling plots. Pacing is excellent. Few things are better than sitting down with an RS novel, even if I have read it a few times before. Particularly like stuff like the escape, the company and the regiment. And I luv getting getting revenge on the bad guys. (Hakeswill scared me a little and I didn't like him. He seemed to be a Superman.) Please keep at it. Will read everything you write.

Kent Spencer

Big Fan from Vancouver, Canada

Enjoyed your work but having spent time working horses find the blunt instrument to the mouth of a charging horse as a maneuver destined for disaster.  I've been bitten stomped and kicked by quarter horses, mules and thoroughbreds.  I think Sharpe or Hook would have gotten knocked on their ass, bitten or missed the target.  Just my opinion but even 50 years ago in my prime it was easier to spook an equestrian with a feint than get their attention with your best physical punch.

James Awhite

Dear Mr Cornwell,

I've been a big fan for many years. I'm currently enjoying the Saxon Chronicles. When I began them of course I was completely unaware of the content but was surprised to realise that the treaty of chippenham/wedmore is featured tangentially. I have been doing my family genealogy and used a function in ancestry.com that allows you to plot occurrences of your family name since 1841 on a map of England. I then pulled all of the wills from the national archives and plotted them on the same map. I have to admit I was somewhat astonished to see that after over 1100 years my family name (apparently an old Saxon name) still mirrors that line drawn between Alfred and Guthrum. If you are interested the results can be seen here http://www.cgpublishing.com/Godwin/county.jpg . Anyway, thank you for so many wonderful books. To the best of my knowledge I own all of them!

Yours sincerely

Robert Godwin

Mr. Cornwell:

I am writing to you, like most people, to tell you I love your books.  I love them so much; I read them constantly and over and over again, and you have the wildest ideas compacted into the best times in history coupled with bright, intelligent, individual characters and excellent writing.

Now that the part that you've seen two million times is over, I have to say Agincourt is my favorite of all of them.  I first read the Shakespeare version, then was looking out for anything King Henry the Fifth, archers, or Agincourt when your book caught my eye.  I took it down off the shelf, read it in about a day, then read it again, because its greatness is all due to the amazing author that is you.

I was re-reading it yesterday, a Sunday, and researching little facts I found interesting.  For example, I watched a short video on King Henry's scar that you highlight.  I wasn't sure whether you had made it up (what was I THINKING) to make the story richer, or whether he actually had a scar from a bodkin arrowhead.  I looked it up and found this, which was incredibly interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Nef1siUus

I also read the notes at the end, and was hooked (Hook - bad pun, very sorry) on the fact that all the characters besides Thomas Perrill were actual real people that fought in Agincourt.  I did some research on this as well and found this website: http://www.medievalsoldier.org/search_musterdb.php

If you search a name, rank, surname, time in history, etc, it will pull of a list of people, their year, their rank, their battle, their position in battle, etc., and I researched Nicholas Hook, who was an archer in 1415 under the captain of Sir John Grey de Ruthin.

I'm trying to find the books by Anne Curry and the other authors you mention to read, because this book started me on a wild adventure of The Hundred Year's War research.

Before your book, my grasping of Agincourt and the events before and after were a bit cloudy, because, you know, Shakespeare (I did really love the Into the Breach Speech and the St. Crispin's day Speech though).  And then I read your book and the events at Agincourt and leading up to it were put into dazzling clarity.

I just wanted to say, thank you for also writing your other books (I LOVE the Saxon Tales/ Last Kingdom series and the Sharpe books), because I love history, historical fiction, and great writing in one.

Thanks so much for your time if you actually did rad this email,

Sophie Quick