I have asked Philip Prout, Manager of the Abbey Shop in the Close , to obtain some copies of two books which I am glad to recommend. The first is Poems: The Best of Steve Turner (£7.99). I used two of Steve Turner’s poems at the Holy Week Devotional Service, and I have long recommended his splendid collection of poems for children, The Day I fell down the Toilet . Here is a collection which you will love and be inspired by, and will want to give to others.

The second recommendation is a book by the famous novelist Leslie Thomas (author of The Virgin Soldiers) . For over thirty years he has lived in or near to Salisbury. And now he has written Almost Heaven: true and almost true stories about a cathedral (£12.99). It is described as a slightly irreverent take on stories and myths that surround the world-famous Salisbury Cathedral and its Close, from the 13 th century to the present day. The book will be published on 1 May, so the Abbey Shop will be glad to take orders.