This book made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me anxious, it gave me hope. I found it to be almost painfully human, if there's such a thing. I think that's what made it a surprisingly difficult read for me - it was so realistic that I kept getting distracted by other things and my mind kept wandering. On the other hand I also thought the story was heartwarming and in its realism it made me feel all the good even more powerfully. Overall I absolutely loved it and would definitely recommend this book to others.

Another feel good story sees a group of unlikely misfits get together to save the local lido from property developers. I’m aft raid there just wasn’t enough of a story to keep me going past the halfway mark. Would probably be a decent beach read but there are much better novels out there.

When the Lido comes under threat of closure, Kate interviews Rosemary and learns of her lifetime association with the area. As the community get together in an effort to save the Lido so Kate learns the importance of friends and family, and Rosemary acknowledges that she too still has a role in life to play.
This warm and caring book had me laughing, crying and willing the community on to save the Lido. I cannot recommend this enough; it is the best book I have read this year.

Very enjoyable story about a young reporter and an older woman who unite trying to save their beloved Brixton Lido from the developers.

Kate is the young reporter who isn't very good around people. She has anxiety issues and panic attacks, which she calls The Panic. She doesn't have any friends and hardly speaks to anyone, apart from work really. Then she gets asked to do a report on the Brixton Lido which has been there for years and years and is in danger of being sold to the developers. There she meets Rosemary, an 86 year old lady who has been using the Lido since she was a small child, all through the war years, and during her marriage to George, who has since passed away.

We get to meet lots of characters that Rosemary is friends with and Kate gets dragged into meeting everyone too because of the stories she keeps writing in the fight to save the Lido. The fight actually helps both Rosemary and Kate. Rosemary... because she feels more involved in everything and meets more people, and Kate... because Rosemary becomes a very good friend and helps her defeat 'The Panic' and actually start to enjoy her life again.

I did find it a bit confusing at the beginning as the story was flipping between the present day and when Rosemary & George were together and sometimes it wasn't clear. I did have to backtrack a couple of times because I'd really completely lost which part of the story we were in. But this improved and wasn't an issue as the book went on and the story gained momentum.

A very enjoyable book about finding friendships in the unlikeliest of places, and how a community pulling together can (sometimes!) change the course of the lives of the residents for the better. It was quite emotional at the end.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved Rosemary and Kate. Watching their relationship blossom was the best part of the story.

The publisher Orion had really been bigging this title up, so as someone with a new love of swimming I was keen to read this debut novel. It's nothing of huge literary merit, and some of Libby's descriptions made me raise my eyebrow, slightly baffled (for example 'She shook like a child as they kissed like grown ups. No-one tells a tiger to hunt, but still it growls. Her body growled as they kissed'). There are plenty more like that, which made it sound very amateurish.

Rosemary is 86, has lived in Brixton all her life, and has been taking daily morning swims at her local outdoor lido since she was little. Her strongest memories are going there with her husband George, who has now passed away. The lido is now under threat of closure due to financial struggles, and is due to be owned by a private company wanting to change it into a private member's gym. Kate is a 26 year old reporter, who works on the local paper. She suffers from anxiety, and often finds herself overcome by 'The Panic'. Kate picks up on the story about the lido closure, and works with Rosemary to try to prevent it.

I thought it over-long, and was bored with some of the descriptive text, and didn't really engage with any of the characters apart from Rosemary. I was irritated by Kate, but liked the way the author creates a real community feel by bringing in local shop and stall workers. But if you like a light hearted easy read about friendship then you can't go wrong with this novel.

I was attracted to this book because I used to visit a lido,long since gone! The author has a wonderful way of describing all the characters that you end up feeling like one
The story is about how a local community tries to fight big business build on their lido. There is an underlying love story of almost 80 years, firstly with lido then with Rosemary's and George's romance which weaves its way gently through the story
Kate is one of the main characters who has just moved into the area and is feeling really lonely and sad until she meets Rosemary who shows her how to laugh and love again

The Lido is one of those books whose characters totally stay with you long after you have finished reading. This is a lovely book and I will be recommending it to many friends. The story revolves around a fight to save the local Lido in Brixton, but it’s really a story of friendship. Kate and Rosemary save each other, and develop the most gorgeous of friendships. It made me realise we can often be quite blinkered when looking for new friendships and maybe there is a great friend out there just waiting for us where we least expect it. Not many books make me emotional but I certainly spent the last few chapters of this book wiping up my tears off my kindle.

I’m now wondering if I can get away with putting this novel on my book club selections when its out in paperback (we have a newly released paperback rule) but we are supposed to select books we haven’t read - but I know my fellow book club readers will all love this book and it will lead to a great discussion.

I could almost smell the chlorine, see the sun sparkle on the blue water, hear the children’s screams.
Kate and Rosemary are a great pairing in this lovely, gentle book of personal and social triumphs. I was with them all the way, cheering them on, and crying with them in their sadnesses and disappointment. And I must say here - Ms Page’s description of widowhood was the most accurate I’ve read, and extremely moving.
The entire story was believable, possibly because so many of the places are real, including the Lido!
But why did she have to end the book like this? No spoilers, but it just seemed so unnecessary.

A charming book about friendship and family relationships, told through the story of saving Brixton Lido.

This debut novel is focused on the relationship between 2 women, one an 86 year old widow, who has not only swam in the lido nearly every day, but, who also fell in love with her husband, George whilst enjoying her swims and a 26 year old journalist who is stuck, full of anxiety and panic and who spends her days existing, rather than living. It walks us through Brixton and the shops, relationships and conversations and brings to life this vibrant area.
It's a lovely read. Publishing date 19 April and I believe there will be a film based upon this book.
Congratulations to Libby Page and many thanks to net galley and Orion Publishing Group for the opportunity to preview this joyous read.

Two women lonely in London. One is lifelong Londoner and lido patron Rosemary who at 86 years of age lives alone after losing her devoted husband George; the other is 26 year old rookie journalist Kate who has moved from the west country in search of her dream job in the newspaper industry. With no friends or family nearby and her confidence buried deep within herself Kate spends her time outside the office shut away in her room in a shared house with her books and the occasional ready-meal for company. Then Kate's boss assigns her the job of covering the potential closure of the community lido and a firm friendship is born as Rosemary and Kate join forces to save the lido.
This is a beautiful book which I easily lost myself in. The descriptive writing is gorgeous and very emotive at certain points. Rosemary is going through what most pensioners do: the feeling that time has ambushed them and left them with a body belonging to a much older person than the one they feel to be inside themselves. Kate is still young but is fighting anxiety and panic attacks which catch her at unexpected moments in the big City; she has lost her sense of who she is and what she is capable of.
Together Kate and Rosemary draw strength from each other in a common cause, and Kate encourages Rosemary to drum up support for their campaign from the network of friends she has built up over decades of living in the area. In doing so, Rosemary mentally revisits times and events she shared with her husband George who was a well known grocer in the area. She gradually realises how well loved and respected she is in her community as she introduces Kate to a whole new group of friends who all jump at the opportunity to support the ladies in whatever capacity they are able.
I really wasn't sure whether the ladies would be successful in their work but the way the community came together restored my faith in human nature and there were points I felt so proud of various characters as they found hidden strengths all in the name of the lido. Other scenes had me reaching for my tissues to wipe a tear - sometimes through laughter, sometimes in sadness.
This is a fantastic example of the new genre of up-lit which is sure to take the charts by storm this spring - a worthy companion on the shelves for the likes of Joanna Cannon's Three Things About Elsie.
5 stars and more if it were possible from me.
My review will feature on my blog www.sandiesbookshelves.blogspot.co.uk and I will be pushing a copy into the hands of anyone who asks for book recommendations any time soon

The sky is spotted with clouds the colour of elephant skin and there is a breeze arguing with the trees’ (Libby Page - The Lido)

Under this sky and sheltered from the breeze lies the Brockwell Lido. Since 1937 the lido has been an oasis of calm for residents, for wildlife and for a community that is losing it’s heart as gentrification threatens to take over. For 86 year old Rosemary, whose bright blue eyes mirror the exact colour of the sparkling water under the sunshine’s rays, the lido is quite simply her very essence. She has swam in these waters for over 80 years. A world without her lido is a world without her memories that richly spill from the page. To Kate the lido is an opportunity to turn her isolated London existence into a career - giving her a reason for being so far from home.

The lido to me felt like spring air in my lungs, I inhaled it in one straight sitting and relished every single breath. The characterisation is so vivid in its painting that it felt almost Dickensian. The sense of place so perfectly captured that I could hear the water lapping against the lidos side. As I read I opened the windows to hear the sound of birds singing in the trees and felt all of my day-to-day concerns just floating away.

That breeze in the trees combined with Rosemary’s memories breathed life into my own treasured stories - of times filled with love and laughter with my very own Rosemary. I was lucky enough to have my Rosemary (my Nan) in my life for 36 years. She had a light in her heart that created a radiance all around her. A warmth in her voice that sang to my soul and a twinkle in her eyes that belied her 82 years. As Rosemary inspired so many others - my Nan showed me how to be strong, how to love, how to live and to always try to be the kindest that you can be.

This is an exquisite story that provides the perfect reverie to a world that feels as if it has tilted on its axis. It is a debut full of courage, love and light.

To Libby - thank you for ‘sharing your story with us’ and for filling me with peace and tranquility. I hope that this book flies higher than high and have no doubt that it will do. To Rebecca Gray and Orion - thank you for letting me be a part of something so special. To the lido - I will remember you fondly, always.

The Lido is published by Orion on the 19th April.

A gentle feel good story outlining old fashioned community spirit which isn't around any more

This is a very gentle, feel-good story. Nothing fancy and what happens in exactly what you think is going to happen. But I think what makes this a lovely cuddly read is the quality of the writing, which is beautifully clear and flows along. It's a story about loneliness and hopes and false starts and expectations. but above all it is a story about a community coming together to protect something that has a special importance for a lot of different reasons. We all know these people in the book and that's what makes this story very relatable.

Thanks to Net Galley, the author and publishers for an ARC copy in return for an honest review.

I'm in two minds about this book, and I think the fact it was so hyped—London Book Fair 2017's book of the fair, snapped up for six figures 24 hours after being submitted—is skewing my opinion. On the one hand, it's very simply a nice, gentle story in which not much happens and with not-exactly-world-shattering prose. Erin Brokovitch, with her spiky edges sanded down and transported to Brixton. But then, the general themes of millennial isolation, anti-gentrification, pro-immigration, urban communities and the general melacholy of ageing and time passing—how often do you see those topics in a unassuming, commercial novel? If "up-lit" is the new trend (which, despite the Guardian's constant pushing, I personally don't think it is—Eleanor Oliphant, for example, is about [a woman so haunted by her abusive childhood that she is unable to function in society and becomes completely isolated and dependent on alcohol (hide spoiler)]) then this is the absolute textbook example—but it's undoubtedly a book set firmly in London 2018.

I think Page's real strength is the Brixton setting, which paints the area almost as a village—it's so rare to see a depiction of urban living like that. I loved the passage at the start where Kate walks to work and recognises the same people she's never spoken to, even judging how late she is by where in the road she passes a certain man.

However, it is a slow-burner. Nothing really happens as such, or it happens very slowly, or off-stage. ([While reading the last chapter, I had to read back to check I hadn't missed the scene where Rosemary died, as it was presented so casually (hide spoiler)]) I do have two slight niggles with the plotting as well—but they're both very spoilery, so be warned. [I felt it was quite lazy of the author never to name or even describe the company that saves the lido with its advertising revenue. All the characters have to talk rather self-consciously about "the company" and "the company's logo" etc, and we never find out why they'd be suited to the lido in particular. Couldn't she just make something up? Also, when Kate and Jay are staging the sit-in and they spot Rosemary on the bench and she's like, "Oh, 'the company' phoned this morning by the way, and the lido's saved"—I knew it was set up so you'd think all was lost, especially Rosemary saying "it's over", but come on! Wouldn't she immediately tell them? Isn't it quite rude to leave them hanging for this long, especially given that they're staging a sit-in? (hide spoiler)]

I will say, given most of the book is set during a heatwave, this is the perfect summer read. Any book with pool water on the front cover automatically has a place on my beach reads list.

#TheLido is a real feel good, community spirited book in a very readable way. Libby Page has managed to draw you into the story and feel associated with the characters and becoming passionate about their cause. It is a story that will make you laugh and cry but thoroughly enjoyable!!

"The Lido" is a story of a young reporter, Kate, who is assigned a story about the closure of the local swimming pool. She interviews Rosemary, who swam there for her whole life, and gets involved in the battle to save the place. Apparently up-lit is on the rise! "The Lido" is definitely that - a heart-warming story about community coming to the rescue of their beloved lido, the main character overcoming personal obstacles with the help of new unexpected friends. On a whole, this was a warm, nice story, which I maybe did not love, but which I definitely enjoyed, especially parts in which Rosemary was reminiscing about her life. The author set her story in Brixton and the Brockwell Lido is the real place, one I have visited in the past, which definitely added personal flavour to the story.

What a lovely book. I really enjoyed following the story of Kate and Rosemary in their quest to save the Brockwell Lido when it was threatened with closure. The novel has something for everyone. It is beautifully written and has believable characters that I was rooting for every step of the way.
It deals with grief and loneliness in a very real way, not shying away from the difficult subject of anxiety and depression. I loved both the main characters, plus the supporting cast. I also enjoyed the descriptions of Brixton, an area of London I know well. It reflected the dilemma between regenerating a deprived area, but losing a lot of what gives it a soul. I don't live in London anymore, but it made me want to re-visit Brixton and go and have a swim.
This book is going to be very big and it is well deserved. Thank you for giving me the chance to read and review this little gem. #NetGalley #LoveThe Lido

Review to appear on blog On publication day - an important book, more of an experience lived than a book read. Great metaphor crafter, real characters flawed and worth caring about. Great cover too.

A heartwarming read with good characterisation, this book tells the story of a community coming together in the face of developers trying to take their lido away from them. Kate and Rosemary form a close bond in the face of adversity and while Kate finds her confidence Rosemary finds her peace.