Hi Bernard,

What was the development of Jane Gibbons? Considering you introduce the locket of her that Sharpe keeps after killing Lt Gibbons in Sharpe’s Eagle, the very first book, your first conceptions of the series must have included a Jane/Sharpe romance. Did you always know it would turn out so badly? Did you think it might have a happy ending? How did that influence the Teresa character as having the Jane subplot in the back of Sharpe’s mind during his marriage to Teresa, in Sharpe’s Company you even mention them meeting in England, seems to indicate that you would inevitably kill off Teresa, as you did, in order to eventually fulfil the Jane/Sharpe romance.

Kind regards,

Alasdair M