Dear Mr. Cornwell,

Greetings and I hope you and yours are well.  I’ve posted questions/comments a few times before and you’ve always replied graciously and in detail.  Much appreciated.  I am actually writing this time to recommend or at least bring to your attention a few novels I haven’t quite actually read yet!  I’ll elaborate–they came up in my Amazon suggestions while searching and ordering other items, thus I skimmed some samples as well as the summaries and some reviews. They reminded me of so much of what I had always liked about your Sharpe series so I thought perhaps they might be enjoyable for you as well.  Looked right up my alley so I ordered right away and should have them by Monday.  The first is Napoleon’s Blackguards by Stephen McGarry, which deals with the oft-overlooked green-coated “Wild Geese” of Napoleon’s Irish Legion who fought valiantly from Spain to Belgium. I saw it mentioned online somewhere and headed straight to Amazon to learn more and see if I’d like it. Of course as the French Republic and subsequent First Empire grew and expanded, their powerful armies would also encompass Germans, Poles, Swiss, Dutch, Belgians, Italians, Irish, Croats, etc. etc. The other two are by Dominic Fielder, The Black Lions Of Flanders and King Of Dunkirk. These caught my fancy as they are historical novels set in Flanders (1793) during the War Of The First Coalition and are told from the perspectives of both the French and Allied sides.  (I well recall Sharpe’s first battle was the 1794 fight at Boxtel, so there’s another incentive for you!) That particular phase and theater of the French Revolutionary Wars isn’t always touched upon a great deal in fiction, certainly not nowadays.  (Meanwhile, over at Toulon, a young Corsican officer was just beginning to garner some attention….) I am really excited to read all three, especially now with more time at home than I ever wanted.  Therefore I felt I should drop a line and mention them to you. Also wanted to recommend Don Troiani’s beautifully rendered book Campaign To Saratoga 1777–rich text penned by a battlefield guide/park ranger, fascinating photos of period artifacts and new paintings exhibiting Troiani’s typically impeccable attention to accuracy and detail.  I eagerly partook of your latest Saxon installment Sword Of Kings a few months back, and enjoyed Fools & Mortals as well despite it being a bit of a departure from your usual!  If ever you revisit that era, perhaps the Elizabethan Sea Dogs, the age of the buccaneers, the Scottish Border Reivers or maybe even the interminable and grueling Dutch 80 Years War?  (The “fighting in Flanders” actually rated a brief mention or two in Fools & Mortals, as I remember.)  Thanks again for the many decades of entertainment; for inviting us to visit so many periods and epochs with such insight and descriptiveness.  Your plots and characters are like “mind movies” which we can each envision in our own fashion.  They never fail to draw one in, and the reader gains a feel for how things might actually have been.  One last thought–just caught 1917 from Netflix–excellent film if you have not yet seen it.  All the best and keep weaving your tales for many many years to come.

Marc Salzano