I have read all your books and enjoyed every one. I also wargame the Napoleonic period and have been researching the Battle of Barrosa 1811, which is the background to your novel Sharpe’s Fury. It really does match most of the accounts I read. But there is one thing that I am having a problem with, which is the village of Barrosa? You mention it within the novel and at the end in the Historical Note. However, I could find no trace of the village in the accounts I read or on any maps. I even contacted the Spanish Tourist Board who only mentioned a beach called La Barrosa. I know there were several villages in the area and some ruined watchtowers with the name, one on the hill and another on the beach, but I have still been unable to find anything relating to a village bearing that name. I know the novel was written some time ago but I wondered if you had any details or information that shows or mentions the village? I have no problem if you have called a village that name for the sake of the narrative, but I am really puzzled as to why I can’t find it? I did wonder if it might be a village built after the Napoleonic Wars? I’ll appreciate any help and advice you can offer. Thank you.

John Walsh