My next favourite book is Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E Lawrence. My father fought in WWII, firstly in the Western Desert. His officers had told him that it was the greatest book written about desert warfare. One day I must get around to recording my father’s stories. My first novel, The Spy who Sank the Armada is about my 10th great-granduncle on my mother’s side. It took me many decades to get around to reading Seven Pillars of Wisdom, but when I started I couldn’t put it down. Again, it’s autobiographical, and beautifully written. When Claire and I visited Jordan in 2018, there were a few obvious highlights, like floating in the Dead Sea and Petra. But for me, the theme running through our Jordan experience was Lawrence of Arabia. I stood alone in the fort at Zarqa where Lawrence spent a winter. The others had seen enough, but I was imagining Lawrence and his band of fighters huddled around fires planning their next attacks. It was actually only a couple of minutes before our tour guide hurried me along. On the outskirts of Aqaba we visited the desert railway he attacked so often. Visiting Wadi Rum where Feisal had his camp was another highlight. It seemed that the other tourists were interested in the rock on which Matt Damon sat, in a scene from The Martian, but for me it was all about Lawrence and Feisal. Finally ending our visit in Aqaba, which Lawrence captured from the the desert, giving the allies a naval base. It summed up the impossibility of his achievements. Seven Pillars of Wisdom does them justice. Why don’t you tell us about your favourite book?