The description of the book seemed interesting, so I wanted to check the story out. Unfortunately, it is not working for me right now. It is nothing against the story or the author, but I couldn't get into the story/characters. I may try and find a physical copy to add the my library when it is released, though, because I think my readers could like it!

As always Amanda never disappoints, a heartwarming family read, with wonderful characters all wrapped up in a lovely story, really enjoyed it

A tale to remember! I hope this one turns into a movie - I thoroughly enjoyed the intriguing story line and writer's prose.

Yet another superb book by Amanda.
The book is set in Ilfracombe coast.
The main two characters Tawrie and Harriet. Tawrie lives with her widowed mum, nan and works in the local café. She decides to join a local swimming club that swims in the channel.
Harriet is a mum of two and has recently discovered her husband has had an affair.
Throughout the book we read about their loves, heartaches, secrets, dreams and major decisions.
This book kept me hook from start to finish and with her usual writing skills, their characters as well as the locations come alive.

Amanda Prowse is on my list of favorite authors and Swimming to Lundy did not disappoint me! The characters were all so enjoyable and the ending was absolutely perfect! The beginning starts off a smidge slow, but keep on going! This book is on my books to be recommended list.

Another lovely thought provoking book about love and infidelity and the real effect it has on the innocent party. I really liked the main character and hoped she would get her happy ending. I curled up with this book and a blanket on a Sunday afternoon and read it in one sitting. Can’t wait for the next book by this author. I 100% recommend this book and author as all of her books are so lovely and easy to read.

Tawrie Gunn, is lonely. Almost at the end of her 20's her entire life has been overshadowed by the mysterious loss of her father at sea when she was eight. Living with her alcoholic mother and doting grandmother she has started to chafe against the hum drum toil of working in a café in seaside Ilfracombe
A pledge to swim in the sea every day with the eclectic Peacock Swimmers, sets Tawrie on a new path with a stranger in a pink shirt.

A heartwarming if sometimes predictable tale of finding your true path and passion despite the many obstacles life throws at you.

Amanda Prowse, Swimming to Lundy, Lake Union Publishing, August 2024.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

Lundy is an island off the coast of Tawrie Gunn’s home. She views it through the lens of her father’s drowning twenty years before this part of her story begins. Despite her father’s death continuing to influence her life, she joins the swimming Peacocks, a rather misnamed group of two whose regular swim becomes Tawrie’s way of changing her life, while maintaining contact with her father through talking to him while she swims. Twenty years before, Harriet is also living in the coastal town in which Tawrie, her parents and grandmother live at Signal House. Harriet has no roots in the town, unlike Tawrie and her family for whom Signal House is a home passed down through the Gunns. Harriet is writing a diary which explains why she, her unfaithful husband Hugo, and ‘Bear’ and ‘Dilly’, their children, have moved from their comfortable family home in a village to the Corner Cottage on the Devon coast.

Most of the novel moves between Tawrie’s story in 2024, and Harriet’s in 2004. This is very well done, drawing the reader into both stories. Both have their comic moments despite their overwhelming sadness. When the stories come together this sadness is replaced with a vigour for life that Tawrie had only dreamed about. Harriet’s life also takes on another aspect, affecting Tawrie through her past observations and a meeting that eased the agony she voiced in her diary.

I found the beginning of the novel rather slow, and Tawrie’s contempt for her mother and glib response to her grandmother’s defence of her, difficult to warm to. Tawrie was eight when her father drowned and surely would have some memory of the relationships around her by that age? The ending was very detailed and seemed to me to crawl to the conclusion. There were also some repetitive phrases that grated, and language that, although now part of everyday speech sounded awkward in the older adults’ mouths. For example, Jago using ‘for’ instead of ‘about’ when he speaks of being excited about the future.

Those criticisms aside, Amanda Prowse has fulfilled her reputation for writing engrossing domestic drama. Tawrie’s ‘coming of age’ is satisfying, and the resolution of Harriet’s angst is comforting and edifying. The way in which ‘Bear’ and ‘Dilly’ have been impacted by their parents’ marriage problems and found their own solutions is thoughtful. Hugo is well realised, and later details of his story round out those of the more sympathetic characters of Harriet, ‘Bear’ and ‘Dilly’.

This is another excellent read for a lover of Amanda Prowse books, and a satisfying read for anyone who likes some fictional domestic drama.

I took my time reading this. The story was a wonderful heartwarming one. Everyone was written perfectly, The good the bad the heartbreak and heartache is all felt when you read this book.
Amanda Prowse has such a way to draw you into the story and leave it lingering still in your mind long after you are done.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an early release of this book.

November 21, 2023
You can be guaranteed that when you read one of Amanda Prowse’s books that you will smile,laugh and cry all within moments of each other . This is a beautifully written book that deals with loss , grief and survival in different ways for most of the characters and it’s a book that I got lost in and didn’t want it to finish

Thansk to NetGalley, tha author Amanda Proswe and the publisher for the opportunity to read this lovely novel.
I was intrigued immediately by the main character Tawrie’s deicion to start wild swimming as a first step in making choices in her simple life. Her life changes in bits and pieces and she eventually takes some risks but after a disappointment she may go back to her very simple life.
Read the novel to see what choices Tawrie makes.
In alternating chapters we read about another woman making choices in her life 20 years earlier and the 2 women meet in the small North Devon town,
I recommend this book and will definitely read more by this author!

I really wanted to enjoy this book after reading the note from the Publisher regarding the Author's previous successful novels, but I couldn't get into it and had to DNF at the end of the second chapter. After being described as "the most prolific writer of contemporary fiction in the UK today," I really was expecting more from this book.

Ilfracombe is one of my favourite places and I have been to Lundy multiple times so was excited for a book set there. Sadly, it just wasn't for me at all. It was written more towards a YA audience, with no character development and an extremely basic writing style.