Hi Bernard! I’m currently reading ‘The Fort’ which is a cracking read – it put me in the mood for playing Empire: Total War! However, aside from the horrors of war, the excellent in-depth characters with their personal stories and backgrounds, and beautifully described locales, like most of your novels ‘The Fort’ raises other points. One in particular intrigues me: that certain Americans chose to remain loyal to the crown, even serve amongst its ranks (Cpt. Leroy in Sharpe’s Eagle episode is example of this). But were deserting redcoats readily accepted by Congress – both during and after Washington’s victory? Has it been documented regards to how many or what percentage of loyalist Americans/British turncoats there actually were?

Also, the settings of your books so far includes several periods of history – but would you consider writing at other points in history, such as Ancient Egypt or the Assyrian Empire?

Robert Douglas