Hello Bernard

 

i hope you and Judy are both well and have escaped this Covid nonsense!

Pretty eerie that in Sword of Kings there’s a plague…and Sigtryggyr falls to it…and then there’s a real Pandemic !

Are you a Seer?

i love Sigtryggyr, but thats a bastard  of a name to spell! i had to google it!

I’m very much looking forward to Warlord!

The Final Battle! Like Ragnarok!

Thats not why i’m messaging though!

A month ago  or so, i reread Sharpe’s Escape, which i always rated highly. Ferragus was a tremendous villain, and the two scraps he and our hero have are suitably nasty!

My one grumble is Sharpe doesn’t let Harps fight him at the end! Its very rare Pat has an opponent who is a physical match for him, and i would’ve enjoyed  a brawl between those two brutes!

Still, thats heroes for you, isn’t it? its all Me, me me!

I was wondering though.

Escape is the first time we see Lawford doing Colonel Stuff and i was wondering if when you wrote Escape, whether you went back to the old novels just to remind yourself what Lawford, Knowles, Forrest and the other South Esses chaps were like? It must’ve been 20 years since you wrote about the South Essex!

Who was your favourite South Essex soldier, though? Excluding the Green Jackets?

i always like Leroy! Who, of course, you kill off! All my favourites get killed!

But who were your favourites?

 

Kindest of  regards

Matt in Kendal