The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle by Sophie Green is the new novel by the author of the cherished Australian bestseller The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club.
In an Australian beachside suburb it’s 1982. Olivia Newton John is imploring women to get physical and husbands are ogling Delvene Delaney in her bikini on The Paul Hogan Show.
Theresa, 38, has decided to take up swimming. She’s feeling fat and frumpy since she’s had her two children and her husband appears to be losing interest in her.
Marie, now in her 60’s, has been swimming all her life, finding solace in the waves. This daily exercise has become even more important since her husband died and her best friend moved to a distant suburb.
Leanne, 25, is learning to swim at the local pool. Self-reliant, she works as a paediatric nurse at the Northern Hospital after completing her nurse’s degree. She has a troubled past that is affecting her well-being, which she refuses to acknowledge.
Elaine moved from England with her Australian husband a few months ago. She misses her grown up sons and the social life she enjoyed there. Finding it difficult to adjust, she decides to take up swimming, which she enjoyed at school. However, she is becoming too fond of a G and T at home, but won’t admit that her drinking is becoming a problem.
The women meet while swimming from their local beach at Shelly Bay. In the waves they find friendship, love and support. Daily they become more confident, not only in tackling the idiosyncrasies of the ocean’s currents, but with those that are causing waves in their lives.
This wonderful novel is both heart-warming and heartbreaking. It raises issues regarding depression, alcoholism, toxic relationships and ageing. The narrative, however, reaffirms the importance of support from friends, an acceptance of personal issues and the means of finding a way forward to resolve them.
The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle is a page-turner and a must-read for 2019.
ISBN: 9780733641169
The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle is available in paperback, e-book and Audiobook
About Sophie Green
Sophie Green is an author and publisher who lives in Sydney. She has written several fiction and non-fiction books, some under other names. In her spare time she writes about country music on her blog, Jolene. She grew up by the water in Sydney and will holiday by the ocean in preference to anywhere else. Sophie’s debut novel, THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE FAIRVALE LADIES BOOK CLUB, a Top Ten bestseller, was shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards for General Fiction Book of the Year 2018, longlisted for the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year 2018 and longlisted for the Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction 2018.
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