Dear Bernard Cornwell,

I’m a middle-aged, middle-class, peaceful and pacifistic midwife, yet for reasons unknown I like to read about fights and battles in times long gone by. Your tales are gripping, your characters complex and it’s just great that there are so many sequels. That I learn lots about history, too is an additional benefit and pleasure. After the Last Kingdom series I’m now into the Sharpe books – and that’s where I just stumbled across an anachronism:

I know how well you research your locations and the detailed descriptions of the sites are what makes them so easy to “see” in the imagination. However, sometimes what is there now hasn’t always been there: in Sharpe’s battle, Sharpe and Father Sarsfield stroll around the San Isidro Fort and “the skirts of the priest’s soutane were wet from the ragweed and grass that grew inside the fort”. I happen to know that the ragweed is a despised neophyte in Europe. It was introduced by trade ships from North America in the 1860s and probably further distributed across the countries during the World Wars through transporting hay for the armies` horses. It only occurred sporadically until the 1990s, when it started to thrive due to climate change. So I’m sorry to say: ragweed may have many faults, but it was not responsible for Father Sarsfield’s damp soutane ;-) I’m looking forward to many more adventures of Sharpe and Harper (why doesn’t ever anybody notice that together they are “sharper”?)

All the best to you,

kind regards,

Sarah Vogt, Switzerland