Hello Mr Cornwell.

I have been watching the Sharpe series on TV for as long as I can remember, as I have a huge (and sadly unrequited!)  crush on the delightful Sean Bean, and even though my teenagers ridicule me I watch repeat after repeat. I’ have now discovered them on Youtube too, so along with my boxed of DVDs I thought I was set for life.

However, whilst messing about on Amazon I discovered all the Sharpe series on Kindle and decided I had better start reading them in order. I have now purchased up to and including Sharpe’s Gold, and I wanted to write to you simply to thank you for rescuing me from a diet of poor chick lit. Let me explain, I’m a 47 year mum of 5 who is rarely awake for long enough in the evenings to read anything of note, or anything that keeps my brain active. Hence the chick lit. But with the Sharpe novels I am transported to another time, and even though I know in my head that Richard will make it though to the end pages, no-one thinks to tell my heart, and I read with bated  breath.

I am also learning a lot about that period of history, and they do say knowledge is never wasted.

So, basically, this is a fan letter to say thank you. I do have just one question though. Now that Sean Bean has been so phenomenally successful as Sharpe, and you have been quoted as saying you wrote subsequent books with him in mind, do you ever regret describing him as you did originally, with black hair? It makes little difference to me, having come to the books after the TV, as I see Sean in my mind regardless, but I wonder if you have ever thought about re-writing the tiny descriptive parts?

Yours with gratitude, hoping this finds you well and content,

Karen Sellers (The Highlands, Scotland)