Dear Mr. Cornwell: I may be treading on sensitive ground here, if so, I apologize. I suspect that your upbringing has soured you on Christians in general. By extension, you have projected this onto Sharpe; he has little use for religion because he was beaten and worked nearly to death in its name. However, I am sure that you know that there are hundreds of thousands of good decent Christians who want nothing but happiness and fulfillment for their children. Your step-parents were an anomaly, not the rule. With this in mind, I have a request: would you consider introducing a chaplain into a future Sharpe book that Sharpe and the Chosen Men will be able to look on as a real friend? He should be a genuinely good, decent man, not a pious fraud. He should be a man who does not shove his religion down their throats, but is always there to offer spiritual comfort and help when needed. And although not allowed to take place in the fighting, he should not shrink from being in the front lines with the men, and should have the courage to do something like running out onto an artillery-swept battlefield to carry in a wounded man on his back. A man that Sharpe and company cannot help but like. I hope you will consider this, and I apologize if I have given any offense. Sincerely, Alan Kempner