Dear Mr Cornwell,
please allow me to thank you for (in brief) the better part of your career as an author – your novels have been a consistent source of colour & adventure in a blessedly quiet life.
Now, getting to the specific subject of this message (as opposed to the more general topic of my admiration for your work), might one please ask if you have ever given thought to what Mr & Mrs Samuel Gilpin were up to during the War of 1812?
I get this powerful mental impression of Mr Gilpin (presumably somewhere as inherently horsey as Kentucky) going “Not this again” while his Missus radiates powerful “This time we’re getting Canada” Patriotic Enthusiasm – not to mention an image of poor old Sam doing everything but fix bayonet & mount guard over his boys (for fear one of them inherited their late uncle’s common sense aka cockeyed optimism) and learning the hard way that what he REALLY should have worried himself about was a daughter with her mother’s Patriotic Convictions and her father’s gift with horses!
Best Wishes,
ED.