Dear Mr. Cornwell
I’ve been reading your books for years now and first of all would like to thank you for the endless hours of fun I had with Sharpe, Derfel, Uthred, etc.
My all time favourite are probably the Saxon stories and I recemtly did a reread of them, after reading “The empty Throne”. Now a couple of questions sprang to my mind.
– in “Lords of the North” Gisela sais she and Uthred will have two sons and one daugter. One son will break his heart, one will make him proud and the daughter will be the mother of kings. Now, did you already know then that one will become a priest and also the idendity of Stiorras husband? I never heard of Sithric Caech before your latest novel, but he seems to have lead an eventful life!
– When reading the introduction to “The Last Kingdom” it doesn’t seem clear to me if Uthred regained Bebbanburgh by the time he starts writing, but in later books there seem to be hints that he will finally succeed. Do you have in mind around which events he will make his next try to recapture the fortress?
And also, why does he finally decide that reading and writing are useful after all and starts telling his tale? He who so often calls the skills unnecessary.
Once again thank you for your work, I’m thrilled to see what your next book will be about!
Kind regards
Claude Leu