Bulletin Board

Dear Bernard Cornwell,

I absolutely love and admire that you met your birth father in Canada, found your ancestors, realized (through much thought, pondering, and heart leaps, I would think) actual history, and took the time to share with us that history. I'm actually elated, given I can just imagine your literal story, as I was adopted, also. I found my birth father, too, and the quest for the ancestral stories do not end! I would love to see a movie of your quest!!! You know, those moments when the lightbulb has turned on and your eyes light up!

Thank you for sharing the treasure you found in your ancestry!

Elizabeth Carroll

Bernard,

 

I’ve wanted to write you for years but unfortunately have not had the time to put pen to paper until recently. First off I want to let you know that you are a fantastic writer, and your work has provided me with countless hours of enjoyment.  You have a way of writing which as a reader totally captivates, and the way your articulate makes me imagine the scenarios you describe as if I’m there in that moment.  In the early days of my professional career as a military officer, I traveled around the world- Africa, Japan, Indonesia, Qatar, and Afghanistan.  Your books accompanied me everywhere I went, and in some cases provided my with a needed escape from the current reality I was living in.

 

I don’t want to bore you, but to be brief, I actually learned of your books as a child but through a less than conventional means… my father was always interested in British tv shows and movies and I remembered a tv show with Sean Bean about the Napoleonic era which I could never put a finger on what it was called… after some time and searching later on it turned out to be “Sharpe’s Rifles.”  I bought my first book in the series while deployed in Africa on a year assignment, and immediately feel in love with the story.

 

I think it’s incredible how you translate actual military history with a storyline which brings it all together so beautifully.  I’ve read many (if not all) of your works, and think I am completely up to speed! Just finishing up Sharpe’s Command!

 

I truly appreciate your work, and I believe you have written some of the best historical fiction books out there. I sincerely hope you continue to write, and that Sharpe’s Command is not the last of the series!!

 

Respectfully,

 

Jack Schenker

Dear Mr Cornwell,

 

I've been a fan of your novels for several years. Recently my brother gave me a copy of Waterloo. It was so good! The maps & your descriptions made an incredibly complex battle understandable. I'd love to read more non-fiction from you if you ever felt so inclined. Perhaps a companion book about Trafalgar? My personal hero is Lord Nelson (I went to Burnham Thorpe in 2022 to visit his home town). I think you could do a great biography of him. I read the one by Southey but it is a little old fasioned (I think it was published in 1813) and it didn't have any maps, which made the battles difficult to conceptualize. Anyway, thank you for keeping British history alive! It is so interesting and you do a marvelous job telling the story.

 

-Scott

I just wanted to let you know that as much as I have enjoyed all of your books, your last two Sharpe titles were especially meaningful.

My dad and I had largely similar tastes in authors, and we enjoyed finding books that we would both like.  Your books, I'm happy to say, are at the top of the list.  My father passed away from cancer last year.  The last book he gave me to read was Sharpe's Assassin.  We both liked it and were able to talk about it.  Sharpe was one of Dad's favorite characters, although Uhtred might have edged him out (one of my students is currently working at Bebbanburg, but that is for another email).

My dad passed away last March.  When Sharpe's Command came out, I knew I'd read it, and it would be bittersweet. But I did read it, and enjoyed it, and it felt like my dad was reading it with me.

Thank you for that, and I look forward to Sharpe and Harper marching again.

Bill Plasse

Dear Mr Cornwell,

I think I must have written this email 3 or 4 times in an attempt to put into words what can be really said in two. Thank You.

I wanted to reach out and say thank you for everything you’ve written. I’m sure many of your legions of fans have written to say the same but I just wanted to share my story reading your works.

I have very recently signed a publishing contract to publish 3 of my own books (www.ben-baldwin.co.uk for more info - let me know if you want a copy in November!) and quite frankly I’d have never achieved this dream if it wasn’t for you and Mr Sharpe.

Let me start at the beginning, I was ten - failing at school, dyslexic, could barely read, until the day I picked up my dad’s Sharpe’s Honour. (Now that was an interesting conversation at school in English I can tell you - try telling your teacher the protagonist just gutted a frenchman!) I even mention it in my own bio!

From there my grades flew up, I fell in love with reading, with history. I was able to go to university, I met my wife who I’ve gone on to have two children with. All for that moment when I picked up your book!

I’m sure we all have life changing moments, (I enjoyed reading how you met your wife in the Square Mile interview) and I genuinely don’t think I’d be sat here if it wasn’t for reading your books. They were the kick start I needed in life.

Now as I start my own writing career I wanted to come back to the start and say thank you. I love that you’ve started writing Sharpe again, I always think your writing is the perfect example of someone who genuinely loves their character. I hope to have the same relationship  in my own works.

I look forward to reading more of your works and hope one day to have inspired even one person like me with my own works.

My regards to your wife Judy and wish her well in her health.

All the best

Ben Baldwin

My late father, Roy Hayden of Manor Road in Thundersley used to say he knew your elder brother well, and that you as a child (on at least one occasion) came to my father's home at 10 manor road.

I do not expect you to remember him personally, but is that possible?

Thank you. I love the Sharpe collection.

Neil Hayden

Placed my order for Sharpe's Command August 2022. It arrived April 2024. Worth the wait. You just get better.

Nancy Christiansen

Dear Mr. Cornwell,

 

I had the pleasure of appearing on Lowcountry Live with you some years ago in Charleston. (You were gracious enough to donate your time to an event LILA held to raise money for Little Free Libraries.) I asked you how you felt about The Last Kingdom's portrayal on television, and said something I've never forgotten. You told me it was best just to champion it, because what else was there to do at that point?

 

As I went on to become an author of historical fiction (early medieval) with Simon & Schuster, I kept your words close when my books were optioned-- and throughout the rollercoaster that has been the development process, still ongoing.

 

I continue to look up to you, as, among your many books, you've written one of the most compelling Arthur series in existence.

 

It's a world my books also encompass, although they're different. My series centers around a historical 6th century queen of Strathclyde, a briton named Languoreth, who has intriguing ties to the historical figures who inspired the Arthurian legend in Scotland.

 

Your talent for transporting readers into historical worlds is unparalleled. And your success has been an inspiration to me. I just wanted to let you know.

Sending you best wishes from Charleston SC.

- Signe Pike

Dear Bernard,

I'm starting the tenth book from your Saxon stories. I'm from Spain, but I lived in England some time ago. I used to hike and enjoy the old Roman roads there, and while walking, I sometimes found places that really resemble the ones you describe in your book.

I just wanted to thank you for the great memories you brought me back from these times, and for giving me an excuse to live, through your books, in a horrible, dark and magnificent age like the Middle Ages. Take the best care of yourself, and thanks for the great moments.

David

 

Dear Bernard

If there's one unit Sharpe should or could meet, it's the Colonial Black Marines, ie the Black Redcoats. Cochrane and Cockburn did the Emancipation Proclamation 50 years early and a number of escaped Slaves formed a highly effective Combat unit that fought at Bladensburg and North Point. Sharpe should fight with these guys at some point. If you've not read it Matthew Taylor book the Black Redcoats is an excellent and fascinating book on a unit that many aren't aware of and I'd recommend

Regards Geraint

This video interview by the author maybe of interest https://youtu.be/jae88yaVCb8?si=A8zDQm460ew-UWVN