Mr Cornwell, Sad to say I have run out of Sharpe books to read. I finished Sharpe’s Devil a few days ago, and find myself at a loss for what to read now. I read Rebel from the Starbuck series, but I find the Civil War somewhat perplexing and depressing. So I’m going to read The Burning Land, returning to the series that originally made me a fan of your work. I do have a question under all this nonsense. I love to write for my own enjoyment. My characters have always been entirely made up from my imagination because I find it difficult to write a believable personality for any historical figure. So I was impressed with the scene in Sharpe’s Devil when Sharpe had his audience with Napoleon. What do you do to prepare to write dialogue with an extraordinary figure like Napoleon?

Robert Alan Long