THE WHITSTABLE HIGH TIDE SWIMMING CLUB is a serialized novel told in three parts – taking you through a year in the life of Deb (ageing bikini, sunglasses) and Maisie (black wetsuit, swimming shoes, goggles) and the other high tide swimmers. This is Part Two.
Deb has finally cut her feckless husband loose, but in many other ways her life is spiralling out of control. With no home, no money, and a chaotic love life, she finds an unusual way to keep both body and soul together.
She’s not even sure of her friendship with Maisie anymore. But there’s still something that bonds the two women together: their determination to stop anyone building on their beloved West Beach. And yet, as they begin to mount their protest, they find themselves threatened and ridiculed, and must fall back on every ounce of their resourcefulness to keep going.
What would they do without the High Tide Swimming Club, whose intrigues, dramas and escapades keep them afloat in troubled waters?
When I read the first part of this trilogy a few months ago I was surprised how much I liked it and I have been waiting impatiently ever since for part two. I placed it on pre -order and it arrived on my kindle on publication day.
It picks up exactly where it left off. The fight has increased between the developers and the swimming club regarding the building of bars and restaurants on the quieter area of the beach that the friends use. After a debate on the local radio station the knives are out between the local MP and Deb who refuses to back down.
But Maisie has other things on her mind and can’t give her full commitment to the fight. When she confides in Deb though she realises that she has more help than she thought.Deb’s life is still in a downturn, she needs somewhere to live and a job, has a very ungrateful daughter and a relationship that everybody else feels is unsuitable.
It is about as far removed from my usual choice of fiction as you can get and if it had been published in the usual format I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it. But the power of social media in regards to the publishing world brought it to my attention. It is a novel that makes you feel good about the world while you are reading it. There is the fight to protect what is important but it is all light-hearted. There is also poignancy and I feel that in part three I may need tissues. I hope I don’t have to wait long to read it.
