CHICK LIT
THE LIDO by Libby Page
(Orion £12.99) THiS is a beautifully written testament to unlikely friendship, the galvanising pursuit of common goals and lifelong passions which link individuals with their community.
recently widowed rosemary is 86 and is pining for george, from whom she hasn’t been apart since they were teenagers. Local reporter Kate is 26 and floundering in a London that feels terrifyingly big and anonymous. gripped by debilitating panic attacks, she tells no one how she is feeling because she doesn’t have any friends and would hate her family to know.
When property developers threaten to privatise the local lido, Kate is dispatched to interview rosemary, who has swum there all her life.
The two unite in an attempt to save the pool and their lives expand in the process. Tender, thought-provoking and uplifting.
THE YEARS SHE STOLE by Jonathan Harvey
(Pan £7.99) i’M A long-time fan of Harvey’s writing — he has a brilliant ear for dialogue and some of these conversations will make you cry and some will make you laugh.
in 2017, rachel is heavily pregnant when she gets a call saying her mother, Jane, is dying. Their relationship has never been warm, but rachel has no idea why.
Back in 1978, at the same time as Jane has a new baby, total stranger Shirley Burke is starting up a complicated affair with married Doug. Desperate to keep him, Shirley makes a terrible mistake. The consequences of this reverberate through the decades and i love the way the narrative swings between the present and the past.
WHERE THE LIGHT GETS IN by Lucy Dillon
(Bantam £9.99) DiLLoN has delivered another blinder. Here, Lorna moves back to the village she grew up in to realise a long-held dream of opening an art gallery. However, she needs to deal with unresolved issues from her teenage years. Her parents are dead and her sister moved away long ago, but there are ghosts everywhere Lorna looks.
only when she has confronted her fears and been honest and open about her vulnerabilities does the future begin to look lighter. What ensues is a bittersweet, moving examination of letting go and trusting one’s own instincts in the face of self-doubt.