Dear Mr. Cornwell,
I’m writing to thank you for all of the many past hours of pleasure and those future ones that I excitedly anticipate from your books. A dear family friend gave me The Winter King on Christmas Eve when I was about 17, and I read and enjoyed it, which spurred me on to find, read, and enjoy the next two in the series. I’d never read anything really like them. Quite wonderful. I reciprocated by buying him Stonehenge. Through a very, very difficult end of 2004, I coped by reading the Grail Quest series. On another Christmas Eve (I think I was 30) our friend gave me Sharpe’s Triumph, and at 38 I’ve finally found the time to start the series, and so am halfway through Sharpe’s Tiger. It’s spellbinding.
A couple of years ago, I couldn’t find my copy of The Winter King, and last summer, it was returned to me by the same friend, after I’d forgotten I’d lent it to him. Unfortunately, he was returning books he’d been lent and hadn’t had the time to read because he’d been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. I’m sad to say that he died last year, six months after his diagnosis, and exactly one month before he turned 60. However, I’m glad that part of our long friendship was fastened by the wonderful Bernard Cornwell books he gave me. In fact, in my second-last email to him, when we all knew that he didn’t have more than a few days to live, I made reference to a few things I liked about your books because they were so memorable and special. He really liked the Sharpe series, and was hoping that I would too.
So thanks, for us both, my friend Bill Petrie (1955-2015), of Winnipeg, Canada, and myself,
John Stevens