After reading 2 volumes of Jeffrey Archer’s Prison diaries I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go for the third (and the last) one. How different could that one be from the other two? But I wanted to complete the trilogy and if there were one or two interesting things in the last volume why not try it? So I am reading it now.

As expected, there isn’t anything drastically different – except for the fact that since he is in a D-cat prison he is not locked up all the time – in these pages. But now and then there are a few touching stories and amusing anecdotes (like that of a fellow prisoner - who is in for driving without license - whose high-caste Indian girl friend has to choose her would-be husband from 3 guys who come to England over one weekend from India!)

Then there is this prisoner who is sent on a town visit for the first time in over 31 years and finds the changes bewildering. In this day and age when you find a city changed noticeably even if you were away just for a year, I can’t imagine the shock the guy must have felt.

There is a reference to a book “The Driving Bell and the Butterfly” by the late Jean Dominique Bauby that Mr. Archer read while in prison. He mentions that the author of the book was left paralyzed and speechless after a massive stroke. However, he mastered a letter code with the one eyelid that he could still move and dictated a book with it. I am going to find out more about this book.

Oh and BTW, all you Sachin Tendulkar fans, your idol also finds mention in this book. His presence at the crease was apparently what put the smile back on the face of one distraught prisoner who was also a cricket fan!