Sir,

I am a avid reader of all kinds of books, but early in 2013 I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. I had the operation to remove the tumour, and then it was months of chemotherapy down at Withybush Hospital. I was quite poorly when I was receiving it and couldn't get into any kind of book to read; I really thought my reading days were over, which quite upset me as I have read since I was a little girl.

My husband went out one day recently and came back with a book for me to read. I had it for a couple of weeks before I even looked at it, but when I did look, I was very surprised to see it was written by a local man, Mr. Lance Russell, the name of the book 'The Encyclopedia Man.'

What a treat. I went to bed early one night and started to read it; I then found I couldn't put it down. What an experience he had out in Australia and the amount of travelling he did over the three years he was out there, it's no wonder he was able to write a book. It had me laughing quite a lot, with tears of laughter in my eyes, it is so funny in parts.

So I'd like to say 'thank you Mr. Russell for getting me back to reading a book at last.'

Mrs. Anne Price,

Lydstep.