The Lido by Libby Page

Published in 2018 as The Lido, Libby Page’s debut novel is titled in North America as Mornings With Rosemary, perhaps because on this side of the pond not many know that a Lido is an outdoor swimming pool in the United Kingdom.

Rheindahlen in the 70s

The Lido was often, and may still be, the gathering place of teenagers, young mothers at home with children, and active retirees. The outdoor swimming pool I knew best was on a NATO base, Joint Headquarters Rheindahlen, in northern Germany, when I was a teenager. Close to my home, across from the football field and the cricket pitch was a huge outdoor swimming pool, with a very high diving board, where everyone my age spent whole days of summer, often reluctantly allowing a younger brother to tag along. This was where my father taught me to scuba dive. It remains a special time and place in my life, an adolescent on the cusp of adulthood.

It is the Brockwell Lido that is at the centre of Libby Page’s novel, an outdoor swimming pool in the heart of Brixton, a London suburb, part of Lambeth south of the Thames. Established in 1937 it is indeed a place the neighbourhood congregates, as do the characters in the novel.

We meet Rosemary, a retired 85-year-old librarian, and her friend Hope, only 68, colleagues who worked at a library, now closed. They regret the loss of the library to their community and when the pool s threatened they know they must take action to prevent its closure. Kate, a young journalist covering local interest stories, is sent to interview Rosemary. Kate is young, and insecure in her job and her sense of self. But, she has a desire for more, a desire to take part in life.  Rosemary is recently widowed and missing her husband dreadfully, but also a woman who is strong in herself. And Rosemary, more than anyone, knows The Lido. She learned to swim there when she was a child, and she and her husband swam there all of their long life together. Rosemary begins each day at the Lido, and agrees to Kate’s interview only if she will also come to swim. And so begins not only the story of The Lido, but the telling of Rosemary’s long life and the emergence of the young woman trapped by anxiety and doubt.

Brixton Lido

Brixton is now a multicultural neighbourhood. People like Rosemary’s friend, Hope, came to England from Jamaica, as did many from around the world as the British Commonwealth was in decline and so many chose to leave the British Colonies that were their birthplace. Many of these are characters in the novel, and we see immigrants become part of the mainstream of British society in a changing world.

Anyone who loves swimming will appreciate the writing about the pleasure of being in the water, a place where the aging Rosemary feels that she is ageless.

The Lido is a sweet debut novel by a good young writer. It is a well written ”feel good” story, that might just be the book everyone is reading come summer.