Wednesday 10 July 2019

✪ The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle ✪ Sophie Green ✪


Published by Hachette Australia on 23rd July 2019


It's 1982 in Australia. THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER is a box office hit and Paul Hogan is on the TV.

In a seaside suburb, housewife Theresa takes up swimming. She wants to get fit; she also wants a few precious minutes to herself. So at sunrise each day she strikes out past the waves.

From the same beach, the widowed Marie swims. With her husband gone, bathing is the one constant in her new life.

After finding herself in a desperate situation, 25-year-old Leanne only has herself to rely on. She became a nurse to help others, even as she resists help herself.

Elaine has recently moved from England. Far from home and without her adult sons, her closest friend is a gin bottle.

In the waters of Shelly Bay, these four women find each other. They will survive bluebottle stings and heartbreak; they will laugh so hard they swallow water, and they will plunge their tears into the ocean's salt. They will find solace and companionship, and learn that love takes many forms.
Most of all, they will cherish their friendship, each and every day.


Copy received from Hachette Australia for an honest review

I enjoyed Sophie Green's first book, so it was a treat to receive an early copy of The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle.

Stories with an ensemble cast can go one of two ways from me - it can be well written and I thoroughly enjoy meeting all the characters, or it can be  train wreck.

Thankfully, this book was the first, and I have enjoyed reading each day in my lunch break.

As an adult, I know how hard it can be to make new friends - I mean, who doesn't have friends that I have known for 30 years, but the thought of making a new friend makes me break out in hives!

Marie, Theresa, Elaine and Leeane, all at different ages and stages of their lives. meeting and becoming great friends , each having a different kind of relationship with the surf they swim in every morning (I couldn't be in this swimming circle, what if Jaws got me!).

I loved how each of our lovely ladies stories progressed.  Their tales were told lovingly, and you can't help be adore each and every one of them. Love, loss, personal growth - there is a bit of it all in this story.

Sophie Green writes with a loving style that had me right back in the 80s with this awesome foursome.

I can't wait to see what Ms Green brings us next.






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.THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE FAIRVALE LADIES BOOK CLUB, a Top Ten best seller, was shortlisted for Australian Book Industry Awards for General Fiction  of the Year 2018, longlisted for the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of The Year  and longlisted for the Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction 2018.