Hi Mr. Cornwell.
In looking over Sharpe’s career, I see a gaping hole waiting to be filled: the year 1808, between Sharpe’s Prey and Sharpe’s Rifles. The story is still to be told. It would take two novels, one covering the battles of Rolica and Vimeiro, and one covering General Sir John Moore’s campaign towards Madrid and subsequent retreat, including his rear-guard action at Lugo, and ending just where Sharpe’s Rifles begins. I know that you have said that you are “not inclined” to take Sharpe back again, but if you don’t, your readers will be denied the chance to learn what happened to Sharpe in that year, and Sharpe himself will be denied the chance to show us! Please someday write the story of Sharpe in 1808.
Alan Kempner