Dear Mr Cornwell, I’m currently working on the first historical battle to feature in the Napoleonic novel I’m writing. I’m using several books to guide me along, including the relevant Osprey, which has good maps and diagrams but I’m finding it hard to get into, certainly a lot harder than the fictional battle/fight scenes that have gone before, because I have to bear in mind what actually happened and can’t let my imagination run wild! I was wondering if you found historical or fictional battles easier to write and whether you have any advice on writing them? You don’t mention it in your writing advice section, which incidentally encouraged me to keep going during a bad patch when I was just starting. I wondered also if you had read either of the new Edwin Thomas stories fearing Lieutenant Martin Jerrold of the Royal Navy? I have read The Blighted Cliffs and enjoyed it and finally found Chains of Albion today. The cameo appearance by Arthur Wellesley was one of my favourite scenes in The Blighted Cliffs. Someone asked what happened to Tom Garrad. He survived the destruction of Almeida in Sharpe’s Gold. Sharpe believes that he dies in Sharpe’s Battle, I think in an explosion, but never finds his body. Marie