It was my birthday present last December; the short prayers, Psalms and other Bible readings are encouragingly easy to approach before a busy day, and before going to sleep at night. Hoping to help my elder cousin, whose memory loss \[early Alzheimers\] makes it impossible to read longer texts, I loaned her my copy. Try anything : dementia is very discouraging. She placed it beside her bed. A few days later, she phoned and said how much she liked the daily rhythm, the combination of short biblical texts with wisdom from 'important people', and simple meditations from 'ordinary people' \[though the compilers are far from ordinary, after so many years of prayer and reflection\] . There is accessible spiritual companionship between the covers. What a blessing!

This is a lovely little starter (or refresher, or a simple travel companion perhaps!) for practicing daily prayer, or more specifically for entering into the morning and evening offices, with a slide into midday and night prayer that is simplicity itself and so beautifully short! The daily offices in this book are gentle, concise, and I want to use the word clean - in this way denoting a beautiful clear simplicity that doesn't clutter the mind, or perhaps muddy the prayer. In this respect it really is a brilliant first book for those trying daily offices, or regular prayer. It is designed to be used on its own by individuals but I think it would also make a great book to use in a small group setting or perhaps as a group whilst on retreat. It's a lovely book and the cover, with its fold over flaps, really does help add to the feeling of it being something a little special.