Mr. Cornwell,

I have completed my reading of “Fools and Mortals” today and so am only now catching my breath. You put me back into Elizabethan England as surely as if you had borrowed H.G. Wells’ time machine. It’s a bit of a departure for you, seeing as how there are no grand battle scenes, but this is a marvelous work of fiction even lacking muskets and Baker rifles. I think this might be my favorite of all your novels.

From what I’ve read (Wikipedia), there is no historical mention of Shakespeare having a brother, however, (from the same source) I’ve learned of a Richard Sharpe, who was a player with the King’s Company, starting with women’s roles before advancing into acting men’s characters. The similarity ends there because the real Richard Sharpe would have been thirty years younger than the fictitious Richard Shakespeare, and although I harbor no doubt that you already knew this, it nonetheless provides a smooth transition into my actual question.

I think I have read everything you’ve published about Richard Sharpe – soldier, rogue, hero – except that in your Historical Notes to “Sharpe’s Regiment” you mention that Sharpe’s first action in battle occurred in Flanders in 1794, when he was sixteen. My question is, “Have I missed something?” Is there a novel which has Sharpe fighting in Flanders? I hope you say yes.

Best wishes and a glorious theater season.

Keith Biesiada