"The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle" is a fabulous story of a friendship that forms between four very different women who start off as strangers but, over two years, form a strong bond as they swim daily in the ocean together.

Gradually the women realise they provide more than just company to each other as they slowly start to share their secrets, hopes and heartaches. They learn that the others are there for them both physically and emotionally when life becomes a challenge. Marie, Theresa, Elaine and Leanne also discover that their friendship is just as important to them as their own families.

I loved how each woman's story progressed and I adored each one of them. In fact, the only character I disliked was Theresa's husband, Andrew. He was obnoxious!

"The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle" ended up being a lot deeper than I was expecting. It was also emotional, heartwarming and uplifting. Set in the early 1980s I had a feeling of nostalgia as I read this book as I could connect with references to "The Paul Hogan Show", "The Man From Snowy River", Lisa Curry at the Moscow Olympics and society's expectations of a woman's role in the family.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will be looking for other books by Sophie Green. Overall, a charming, feel-good read. ( )

Occasionally I branch out into something that is not crime fiction.

Four very different Australian women find friendship through swimming each morning at a local beach. Through their friendship they find the strength to confront their demons and battle their problems. Over a period of two years their friendship strengthens and their lives all change.

A delightful read.
If you are thinking of it for your book club, the author has provided a list of questions for discussion in the final pages. ( )

The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle by Sophie Green is an inspirational and heartwarming testament to female friendship.

In need of some time for herself, busy wife and mother Theresa Howard opts for a daily dawn swim at Shelly Bay Beach. It’s there that she meets the widowed Marie, who has swum from Shelly Bay to Little Beach, and back again, almost every morning of her long life. The two women are soon joined by Elaine Schaeffer, the British wife of an Australian heart surgeon, who is struggling with homesickness, and somewhat reluctantly, Leeane, a young pediatric nurse with a painful past. Little more than strangers to one another, these four women soon become the closest of friends.

Beginning in the summer of 1982, the companionship that Theresa, Marie, Elaine and Leeane find in the water, slowly moves beyond the shore of Shelley Bay Beach, and as each woman encounters a myriad of life changes over the next two years, they reach out to one another in friendship. Getting to know these four authentically written characters is gratifying journey as we share their journeys through happiness and sorrow.

While Green sensitively explores difficult, but not uncommon, challenges faced by women such as infidelity, divorce, grief, loneliness, ageing, alcoholism, family estrangement, sexual assault and illness, her characters share moments of joy and laughter too. They find within themselves, and each other, the strength and courage, to love, and live, their lives fully.

“They’re all women she loves, and she knows they love her in return. It’s been enough to get her through some days, and she knows what Marie would say: it never ends. Love is eternal...”

Written with heart, humour and compassion, The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle is a wonderful read. ( )