I wonder if you are a cat lover? It seems to me in the Sharpe books that there is always a cat, often with a litter of kittens, and Sharpe is often picking up cats, putting them on his lap, or giving them a stroke. I am glad that the cats seem to go unscathed in Sharpe books – as an avid cat lover myself, Sharpe becomes an even nicer character because of his gentleness with cats.
Barbara Francis