Kate is a twenty-six-year-old reporter working for the local neighborhood newspaper in Brixton, London. After writing mostly about lost pets and trying (unsuccessfully) to keep her anxiety and panic attacks at bay, she is assigned to write about the closing of the lido, or local swimming pool. At the lido, she meets Rosemary, an eighty-seven-year-old widow who swims at the pool every day, and has for most of her life. Kate asks Rosemary for an interview, to which the older woman agrees only if Kate goes for a swim in the pool. Together, the women begin not only a friendship, but a campaign to save the lido.
This novel is a touching tribute to relationships and community. Through flashbacks, we see Rosemary fall in love with and lose her husband George, the presence of the lido all the while in the background. As Kate spends more time with Rosemary, she is able to find confidence and strength, create new friendships, and reach out to family she hasn’t spoken to in a while. Between the two of them, they bring a community together with a common purpose, in an effort to save one of the last true community centers in the neighborhood.
For fans of heartwarming, character-driven fiction, and authors like Fannie Flagg and Sophie Kinsella.