Your Questions

Just finished listening to Agincourt (loved it!). You brought the details of battle alive in such a way that I was glued to the earphones of my iPod. Thanks very much for such an interesting book. One question: you referred to the affliction of the English soldiers as "plague", then in the afternote called it dysentery. Could you clarify that sometime (if you have time)? Did they think of dysentery as the plague back then? Thanks, again.

Carol Johns

Dear Mr. Cornwell, I am totally captivated by the way you write & what you write about! I am a huge fan of knights on horseback, swordfighing & chivalry & am a collector of glaives. I am a signmaker by trade & live on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten....when I get time I make shields from scrap wood & use these to practise my swordsmanship skills. I am currently reading Vagabond & wonder if you have an image/drawing/crest/shield of the "yale" that is on Thomas of Hooktons' bow? If not....I would like to create one for you! The winter King series was just magic to read! Keep up the good work & best regards, Tim

Hello, Bernard, after finally completing your Sharpe books which was enjoyable I have found something that interested me. You say that the British Army were a group of criminals generally, so if that was the case did they murder each other? And did the British Officers really get fragged on the battle field? How did the British Officers treat the rankings? I understand that senior NCOs were generally respected despite being lower class?

Final thing after Sharpe's Siege, I noticed Colonel Elphinstone on how you portrayed him as somebody Sharpe respected and trusted. I take it he was a good colonel but the worst general ever? The afghan retreat comes to mind where his all army got massacred... Perhaps you could do a novel on it? Would be very intriguing coming from you, twisting facts with fiction and stuff... Perhaps an old Sharpe character can be a main character, such as Weller? Sorry for the bombardment with questions but its very interesting to me, and I can't find much information on how the British Army treat each other on the internet!

Michael

Exactly what is a best man in a British rifle squad of that time period?
Richard Gerhardt

Hi Mr Cornwell I was wondering if you have read any of Simon Scarrow's Wellington-Napoleon books? Aside from being fantastic reads, the last in the series 'The Fields of Death' features a brief scene with our favourite Rifleman...: ''...when a major of the 95th came panting up the slope clutching a leather satchel. Unusually for an officer, the major carried a rifle like his men, and he nodded a salute as he handed the satchel to Alten. 'Here, sir. We found this on the body of a French colonel.' 'What is it, Richard?' Alten asked...'' I loved this and later, while looking at Mr Scarrow's website, the Sharpe appearance was mentioned. He said that he was glad it had been spotted, and added "We (historical novelists) all owe Bernard a huge debt in helping to popularise the genre so that it is as successful as it is today." High praise and highly justified! I know you yourself are a fan of his work - was this something he asked about, or did Sharpe just decide to go and show up in somebody else's book?!

Daniel Price

Dear Mr Cornwell, Have you ever thought about writing a book on a darker, immoral more ruthless anti-hero? Despite being killers, and in some cases murderers, most of your characters have morals and are reasonably virtuous. I think it would be interesting to see a book based on a young Obadiah Hakeswill and his terrifying and bullying rise through the ranks culminating in him recruiting a 16 year old Sharpe and them fighting at the Battle of Boxtel. This would make Sharpe a secondary character in someone else's story and it would be away for you to go back in time within the Sharpe stories and all us avid readers would see how so much animosity came to exist between Hakeswill and Sharpe. As a character we all love to hate it would be a strange emotion to read about this but ultimately we know that Hakeswill does get his comeuppance. Hope my thoughts on this are okay. Cannot wait for your new novel. Kind Regards Tom Haslett

Just like every other person that finds themselves on this website, I adore all the Cornwell books that I have read and intend to read no other author until I have read all your work. Your writing style and dynamics are second to none; in my opinion. This is why I would love to read just one novel or a series based around the transition of Pictland into Alba. I have considered on attempting such a project myself but I believe you would excel in writing such a story with this backdrop. Especially with how well the Arthurian trilogy was put together, which was set only a few hundred years prior to change of Pictland. Anyway before I ramble on I just wanted to plant a seed, a thread of conceptual thought that I hope will grow into a phenomenal story encompassing a turbulent time in one of, if not the most hostile but beautiful countries filled with a fierce and warlike people who also have a great passion for love and honour.
Jonathan McElligott

Loving your books so far - have been reading them on the nook - so please do all you can to get all your books in eBook format. I have been reading the Saxon Tales and just finished The Burning Land. Very good as usual however I noted a difference in the writing on this one. First you seemed to move to Uhtred retelling the details of an event from his "retirement home" more in this book? Any reason other than because "you felt like it"? Two, you introduced and used the term Jarl often in this book. I believe it was the first reference of that term in the series? Is it because it was a term you learned during your research after the first books were written - or was it a term that only became a "term" during Uhtred's life? Looking forward to the next book - and I do hope Uhtred does not sell out his pagan ways and become a Christian. As a freethinker myself - this is very refreshing!

A suggestion that might be fun for a future book - if you could team up with a fellow author (Ken Follett would be awesome!) and both of you write a separate book on the same story from different points of views. For instance - the events in the Burning Land could have also been written by the another author from the perspective of Haesten. That would be a very interesting read! The stories would divulge where the characters are in different locations but same when they are in the same battle or location.
Patrick Nance

hi I'm 16 and live in the UK. I try to read all your books, and I love every one I have read. I think that my favorites are the books about Uhtred, they are amazing!!! I have three questions tho 1) Are these going to be made into films or any of your other books besides the Sharpe series? 2) how many more books are there going to be in the saxon stories about Uhtred ?(I hope they never stop) 3) are there going to be any more books in the grail quest? I look forward to your reply and hope that you never stop writing. ps the Burning Land was amazing! from Jak.L

Just a very short note to thank you for your diligent research and prodigious output. All works have been eagerly consumed and I have only half the Sharpe series to go and then I'll start on Starbuck and then it's re-read time. The Saxon Chronicles have set me to reading Bede and works such as Stenton's Anglo Saxon England - for that much thanks! Are you planning a repeat tour of the UK any time soon, caught your interview in Chelmsford a few years back, I would appreciate a part II. Kind regards, John