Dear Mr. Cornwell,

I’ve been devouring your books since reading one of the Saxon series and falling in love with your writing, the period, the characters, and everything else.  I’ve since branched out into the Arthurian and Sharpe books.  And I thought Agincourt was a revelation.

I just gave The Last Kingdom to my husband, who is a chess master and teacher.  He initially thought that the mention of chess and pawns in The Last Kingdom was an anachronism, but now we’re not sure.  The Wikipedia entry says chess originated in India, spread to Persia, and was then spread through the Muslim world, but it only shows chess getting as far as southern Europe by the 800s.  You are such a good historian that I’m betting you know much more about this than we found in our quick search.

While I’m sure you’d rather make sales of new books, please know that you are well known and loved at The Friends of the Tompkins County Library book sale, where twice a year we hold one of the largest  (and, we think, the best organized) used book sales in the country.   I will be sure our Collector’s Corner folks are on the lookout for first editions of the early Sharpe books.  Please come visit us if you are ever in beautiful upstate New York.

Best regards,

Kathy