'Across the wet November night The church is bright with candlelight And waiting Evensong ...' 'Church Poems' not only gathers together Sir John's poems on churches and religious themes but also contains some new material ... complemented by John Piper's faithful, inventive enchanting and sometimes witty illustrations. Church after church is celebrated in these pages from King's College Chapel, Cambridge to Holy Trinity Sloan Street. Out of this intensely enjoyable collection shines the sweetness of the poet and the man. "John Betjeman speaks to nearly every civilised and intelligent Englishman of his times in a way no poet since Tennyson has managed. He is a church bell ringing in our heads."

• Auberon Waugh in the Daily Mail