Bulletin Board

Q

Short and sweet. I have just finished re-reading all the Sharpe novels. Thank you for some of the best reading ever! Everything was even better than I remembered the second time around. Such great entertainment and so many fulfilling moments. Many, many thanks.

Johnnie Holmes


Q

Dear Mr. Cornwell,

I have just finished the entire Richard Sharpe series and the entire time I kept thinking how Sharpe and Harper reminded me so much of the adventures of  C.S. Forester's Hornblower and Bush that I read as a child 50 years ago. I must say you have equaled if not bettered Forester's Hornblower whom I have reread many times over for the shear joy of reading beautifully written stories. While Sean Bean was my first introduction to Sharpe, my first encounter with your writing was the wonderfully bloodthirsty pagan Uhtred. Only recently did I start on Sharpe beginning with the original series and then filled in the rest. I kept wondering, what did happen at Assaye? Now I know, as a history major in college I really appreciate the attention to detail how you weave historical fact and fiction together beautifully. I just wanted you to know the joy I got and still cherish from C.S. Forester's books as a boy have been reinstilled  by your writing, Sharpe, Harper and Uthred now join Hornblower and Bush in my pantheon of heros. I can't thank you enough. I hope life finds you and family well and happy.

Thank you.

David Sumners


Q

Hello, Bernard, how are you?

I ask you to forgive me, English is not my native language, so I'm using Google Translate to write this message.

My name is Gabriel and I'm Brazilian, I live in the state of São Paulo.

The reason for this message is that I just finished reading the 13th book of the Uhtred saga, which was very important to me because before March 2016, I didn't have the habit of reading. But that changed when I read "The Last Kingdom".

Since then, I've become an active reader, and seeing the "end" of the journey of such an iconic character was incredible.

I take this opportunity to express my gratitude for your work and for influencing me to enjoy literature. It's important to me that you know this.

A big hug, I hope that one day you come to Brazil, so I can ask for an autograph and take a photo with you.

P.S.: The Arthurian Trilogy is the best work you've ever done; I reread it every two years. To me, it's a work that taught me a lot about friendship, forgiveness, love, maturity, and happiness.

 



Q

Hello,

I do hope this finds you well.

I don't usually send fan mail, but this needed to be said.

I've finished your take on Arthur and the Knights of the round table and I'm absolutely floored.

I've been a Sharpe fan and picked up the Warlord series as consequence and I have to say it's a favorite.

The character development was amazing! I wanted to hate Guinevere until she turned my heart towards a more mature response and I felt Lancelot got more than he deserved from the start. I wanted to strangle Arthur for his lack of ambition and I desperately hoped his vision of Britain would be fulfilled. I believed in the magic of old Britain until I could hear Merlin telling me not to be a fool and I cried when Sansum returned Derfel's sword.

What a journey! I owe you my gratitude for an amazing story experience.

I've picked up the Last Kingdom series next and I can't wait to begin!

Thank you again!

Sara P


Q

Dear Mr Cornwell,

I have just read the warlords trilogy, I have heard about you and your works for a long time but it is the first one I have read, and I simply fall in love, I love the way you describe religion, leaving a tone of magic but still with your feet on the ground, in a way that you can't hit either side, and even more so the way you create characters and human relationships, I just wanted to thank you for this incredible experience that I had, which made me feel alive while reading, and I also wanted to say that you inspire many Brazilian authors, one of whom I follow Eduardo Spohr made a work of historical fiction portraying the life of São Jorge, and I believe that like you he describes the religion with this duality of mysticism and reality in the same way, I will soon venture into one of your other sagas, as I loved your writing, be well and thank you, sorry for any mistakes in English as I am Brazilian.

Guilherme Braga


Q

Hello,

I have just finished reading the last novel of the Last Kingdom series, and I have absolutely loved reading the story of Uhtred.  It is so amazing when I have read each book that I can visualise the the places and the characters and I feel as if I am there with them.  You are an amazing author, I am sad that Uhtreds story is over but I am now looking forward to reading other stories that you have written.

Thank you

Karen Flood - New Zealand


Q

Good Morning Mr Cornwell,

My name is Stuart Glenn Collins, I would like to say firstly I have seen all The Sharpe dvd's loads of times, And I have lost count I have seen The Last Kingdom, I have been doing my Family Tree and I have just added Uchtred The Bold he is my 31st Great - grandfather on my Mother's side, I have just read that Uchtred is also in your Family Tree, I have found Kings and Queens of England and Scotland, But finding Uchtred is the best find My partner Karen and I went to Northumberland last year and I found Bamburgh Castle like I have been there before, Thank you very much for your books,

Kind regards

Stuart


Q

Good day Sir,

I am an Allied Forces military vet and my last position was in Geo Int and have read everything you’ve written and I want to thank you so much for it all. I could go on to say we had similar parental conflicts growing up.

I have a difficult time reading military battles or fights - but yours has a unique realism that I wonder how you get.

I was in Gaza right after Sept 11 doing VIP security and was in one very intense live fire.

I’ll tell you the fear can freeze your body and at the same instant everything slows down so so much.

Thank you so much for Sharpe and Starbuck. Having semi retired I have started writing myself and that has always been a life-long dream of mine and your text and your audiobooks have kept that dream alive in me.

I initially came on here to find what story the large hearted Harper and bird lover gets the monkey - and I found it is in Assassin.

Rifles/Waterloo and Assassin really captures their relationship - and that too seems real to me, as I have the size of Sharpe and my closest pal has that warm heart towards animals and is a true Harper. And we did fo at it at once - all the men cleared out - and we both gave better than most but he would have won - and we stopped ourselves before it was going to cost us our friendship.

Thank you again for the all the work. I have an idea in this last year how much it actually is. It’s a deep trench Sir and you are the best.

Doug.

 

A

Thank you for your message and thank you for your service!


Q

Dear Mr. Cornwell,

I first entered a world of your making as a graduate student in Illinois, watching PBS's broadcasts of the Sharpe' Rifles series. Then, again, I streamed the BBC production of The Last Kingdom, continuing to follow it on Netflix. I so enjoyed both dramatizations! But only quite recently did I begin reading the Saxon Tales series of books on which the latter are based. I have so enjoyed your portrayals of the Saxon, Dane and Norse cultures of the period and the permeation of medieval Christian faith into them. I appreciated the earthy warrior humour, including about the religious conflicts! Further, I felt I was educated about the warfare of that period and its brutality. As one who has spent most of my working life in party politics, I was struck by how little has changed as to the extent to which political leaders are expected to be "gold givers" to their voters, supporters and colleagues in "the shield walls" of party politics! As with Saxon Tales, some are motivated by service to God or humankind, or are driven by a vision of what could be. But by and large, humankind are driven by gold, land, sex and family. When I was midway through reading Saxon Tales, I discovered I may descend from one of the Uhtreds. One of my dad's maternal aunts served as a missionary with her husband in north India and in Kenya, from the late 1940s through the late 1970s. In one or the other of India or Kenya, my great aunt befriended a British ex-pat who was a Burke's Peerage researcher who traced a connection of my dad's maternal line of the Dunbars to the medieval Scottish royals and through them to one of the Uhtreds. It might even be true! Perhaps the highest compliment I can offer is to point to  your powers of observation of human nature at its best and worst, enlightened and benighted, virtuous and crass, and heroic and cowardly. I look forward to starting your Arthurian series! With appreciation,

Russ,