Dear Mr. Cornwell, I have been reading your books for nearly 20 years now. Some of them have been re-read so often, that I started getting spares for my favoured books. I hope you will continue writing for as long as you can hold the quill. I am semi-professional genealogist, and during my researches, I stumbled over an ancestor how was drafted into the french army (14th Chasseurs a Cheval – he was 18 then) in 1809. He was from German Rhineland and fell in Spain in 1813. Maybe hit by a rifleman’s bullet ? Who knows. I have quite a lot of proof that 2 or 3 other ancestors of that family line served with the French as well. Although I don’t have the precise units. Anyway – maybe you can imagine naming a German soldier in french service “Gilgenbach” in one of the future Sharpe novels ? Its a very rare name, and there is only one family named like that here in Germany. Just an idea though ;-) All the best to you and your family, Rob Wolf