Dear Mr Cornwell

I will try my best to not make this sound like a long winded sermon but your books have changed my life. I first hard of you on the title sequence for Sharpe as a boy, I have dyslexia pretty bad and I hadn’t read my first full book independently until I was 13 or 14.

The first book I ever read was The Winter King my old man (who is also dyslexic) was reading it and mentioned it was about King Arthur, back then Tales of King Arthur and his Knights, Robin Hood 100 year war were my optiates I couldn’t get enough. One day when he set the book aside I picked it up and started to decipher the blurb, then I opened the book and read the opeing page, then I was hooked it took me a month to fumble my way through it. It took me another 4 months to read the other 2 in the trilogy.

I am now 25 and I have read everyone one of your books up to date including Warriors of the Storm. The Saxon Chronicles are by far my favourite even overtaking my love for Sharpe. Being born and Bred in the North East of England I feel I can relate to Uhtred and Bamburgh is one of my most favourite places in the World.

Which brings me onto my question. The final book finished with Uhtred stating he had business in the North, which I asume means the next book in the series will be based Northumbria. Previously when you have wrote about Northumbria you have only written about the major towns and cities such as Durham, York, Leeds, Chester-lee-Street. You have also made reference to hexham I believe.

I was wondering if in the next novel you would be writing about the landscape of Northumbria in more detail for example there is a small village approximately 10 miles west of Hexham on the river Tyne called Ovingham which comes from the Anglo-Saxon for Offa’s Hamlet I believe. Also Escomb Church in County Durham is said to be the most complete Anglo-Saxon church in Britain.

I don’t mean to be critical of your work but in the North we are very passionate about our heritage and it would be nice to have some of the littler places mentioned like you have done previously about Wessex and Mercia.

Many Thank

Kurtis Beck