Dear Bernard,

I’ve just finished reading Sharpe’s Assassin, and I wanted to take a moment to get in touch and thank you.

I first read your books many years ago (more than I’m prepared to admit to myself), and as a young soldier at the time the books were passed around and Sharpe’s adventures well known. While I enjoyed the characters, I really appreciated how you tied their stories in with true history, and surrounded them with well researched events and detail.

Fast forward several years (decades) and I did the unthinkable. I wrote a historical fiction novel. It was never going to be read by anyone, of course, and certainly wasn’t going to be published, but you know how these things go… 9 books later.

Before I go on too long, I’ll cut to the chase. Having read your work again decades after last picking up one of your books, I noticed how much you’ve influenced my own writing. We write very differently, and the subject matter is very different, but I certainly recognise the research, the history, and the detail that you weave into your characters’ stories. Any influence was quite unconscious, of course, especially given the delay between putting down your books and picking up my own, but maybe that’s a credit to the longevity of your style.

So, that said, thank you for the positive influence. I’ve had many experiences in my life, and achieved a lot, but very little has made me quite as happy as the books I’ve written. Oh, and thanks for Sharpe, too.

Kind Regards,

Karl Jackson