Hello Bernard, I must say I do feel a bit silly contacting you like this as I am not sure if you reply and even if I get one that you will be the one writing it. No offence I mean you must get loads of people writing and so may not be able to reply to all. Just dropping a quick note to say how much I enjoy your Sharpe novels. They are in a league of their own. I am so pleased that they are always available for me to buy whenever I walk in to a book shop. Not many of my friends at school read your novels but I think they are awesome!!!! I love the image of Richard Sharpe and it is even better as there are not many images of him so it leaves his appearance to your own imagination. I sometimes get confused about the ranking system in the British army so I was wondering if you could maybe help me out in your reply. Battalions, regiments, companies and platoons, it all gets very confusing. Harper is the mosty brillaint sidekick ever and would not want to annoy him in the slightest. Overall the characters, plots, desrciption and style of your writing is second to none. As the Napoleonic period is my favourite I am really keen to read all the books I can. My only critiscism is that in many of the Sharpe books the detalils of him are repeated. For example his sword, I know this is for the new readers so they can get an understanding but it can be annoying for “experts” as I like to call myself. Well I have to go now and hope you can find the time to reply, With thanks Richard J Raban- Williams