Dear Bernard, Just one question is the settings of Sharpe’s Devil in Valdivia, Chile real or fictional? Or have they ever existed? Have you ever been there? There’s no short way of explaining this, but I’ll try to be brief. In the case of time shortage, feel free to stop reading, the important question has been asked. I heard your name for the first time 3 weeks ago. I’m a Chilean born Taiwanese (weird as it sounds), and I’ve been living and studying in London for the last 3 years, lately and for the first time since I arrived I felt homesick, and sick of the city.One day I was doing my weekly food shopping when I came across a book abandoned in a bench with a yellow post-it over it with the word “anybody’s” writen in it, the rest you can imagine, SHARPE’S DEVIL bold and gold, BERNARD CORNWELL bold and white and an ilustration of the Chilean independance war in the cover. Anyway, I don’t believe in coincidences, especially this kind, I got hold of my flight home and I’m determined to get to Valdivia as soon as posible, sounds nuts but if I don’t go I’ll never know the reason of this event, and I’ll regret. So, I wonder if the places you mentioned or described exist… maybe with a different name or ever existed. If they do, I guess my backpacking route was already traced. Thanks a lot, for provoking this little adventure in search for the unknown. And by the way, your book is going to remain in Chile, where it may trigger another chain of events to an anonymous person. Regards Kris