The Lido by Libby Page - Book Review
What a lovely book!
I thoroughly enjoyed this charming story. Although the main plot line is about the potential closure of an outdoor swimming pool/lido it so much more than that.
I thoroughly enjoyed this charming story. Although the main plot line is about the potential closure of an outdoor swimming pool/lido it so much more than that.
At the start, we meet Kate a journalist at a local paper, living in London, lonely and experiencing panic attacks or 'The Panic' as it is referred to in the book. She is asked to cover a story about the local lido being closed and bought by a property developer who intend to fill it in and turn it into a tennis court.
Kate is asked to interview Rosemary who has been swimming at the lido for over eighty years and we start to see the importance of the place to local residents and how the loss of it will affect them. We also get to know the significance of the lido to Rosemary in particular and how her whole life has been linked to it.
A friendship starts to develop between Rosemary and Kate and Kate is introduced to and becomes a part of the local community and finds herself not only enjoying the lido and swimming again but someone who wants to fight to keep it open. Although this is the premise of the story as I said earlier, it is so much more than that.
It is a tale of friendship when you need it most, finding yourself, the heaviness of loss and grief, love, connection and not giving up.
It is not a taxing read. It is gentle and easy-going but compelling nonetheless and I enjoyed the development of the friendship and the sense of community.
I think it's a great book to pick up this summer and as a result of buying this book, I did actually make the decision to try out my local outdoor brine pool. Despite having lived in my area for almost 20 years, I had never been and I'm so glad I did. It was a wonderfully nostalgic experience taking me back to the days of my youth when I would spend the whole summer at the local lido. It also rained while I was there which virtually emptied the pool and I had that delightful experience of being in the pool almost on my own with the cool rain hitting my face as I moved through the water.
It is a tale of friendship when you need it most, finding yourself, the heaviness of loss and grief, love, connection and not giving up.
It is not a taxing read. It is gentle and easy-going but compelling nonetheless and I enjoyed the development of the friendship and the sense of community.
I think it's a great book to pick up this summer and as a result of buying this book, I did actually make the decision to try out my local outdoor brine pool. Despite having lived in my area for almost 20 years, I had never been and I'm so glad I did. It was a wonderfully nostalgic experience taking me back to the days of my youth when I would spend the whole summer at the local lido. It also rained while I was there which virtually emptied the pool and I had that delightful experience of being in the pool almost on my own with the cool rain hitting my face as I moved through the water.
Libby Page is really able to capture some evocative moments in this book and then I was fortunate enough to experience some of them in real life too.
I highly recommend this book. It is uplifting, you really care what happens to the characters and the lido and the ending was beautiful.
I highly recommend this book. It is uplifting, you really care what happens to the characters and the lido and the ending was beautiful.
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