My First Blog Tour: The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club

The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club by Katie May.

I’m really rather excited to be talking about the Whitstable Bay Swimming Club: Diving In by Katie May, especially as this is the first blog tour I’ve participated in.

The Whitstable Bay Swimming Club will be a full novel in the end but currently is being published in novella sized chunks and this first part is a real treat, I was looking for something fun and light to read to fill a break between two heavier nonfiction works and this fitted the bill perfectly.

It is a story of unlikely friendships all forged on Whitstable beach by a group of sea swimmers.  Due to the geography of the beach swimming is only really possible at high tide and so slowly people get to know each other and when their swim is threatened they are ready to fight. The friendship and tensions all seem very real, and as I was reading the book I could see them meet, sum each other up and then learn more about each other

Katie May herself says:

Meet Deb, Maisie and The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club  When I was planning The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club, I had a strong vision of Deb and Maisie, my two central characters, but little else. I knew that I wanted to write a novel about the power of female friendship, but I also knew that there needed to be a community of swimmers around them, all with different lives and problems. I wondered how I’d manage to pull this off.
 I needn’t have worried: gradually, as I wrote my book, a whole cast of characters introduced themselves and joined in with the action. Here are my favourites.
 DebI first imagined Deb when I was sitting on Whitstable beach one afternoon, and suddenly, from nowhere, a dog jumped over the wave-break and onto my picnic. He was closely followed by a woman who was at once panicked and chaotic, but warm and instantly likeable. I knew immediately that I wanted to write about her. In the book, Deb’s waited until her fifties to finally leave her bullying, feckless husband, but she’s making the most of her freedom. She has an incredible ability to get on with anybody, and can’t help trying to solve their problems, too. And yet she’s hopeless at taking care of herself, and is constantly at risk of being dragged back into her awful old life.
 MaisieIn many ways, Maisie is the opposite of Deb – poised, wise and authoritative, she always seems utterly in control. But just like Deb, Maisie is starting her life again too, running away from a high-flying career and a loveless marriage to start a new life by the sea. She and Deb meet because they find themselves swimming on the same beach each day, but they bond because they each have something that the other one needs: for Maisie, it’s Deb’s easy-going nature; for Deb, it’s Maisie’s confidence. What’s more, it turns out that Maisie is running away from more than her past life – she’s terrified of her future, too.
 Ann and EdithAnn doesn’t exactly endear herself to Deb at first. Instead, she invites herself in to the swimming club and tries to take charge. But, as time passes, it’s clear that this irritable, awkward woman is doing her best to be make friends, even if it’s sometimes rather thwarted. What’s more, she has been caring for her mother, Edith, for so long that she’s forgotten how to live her own life any more. Perhaps the High Tide Swimming Club can save both of them.
 DerekDeb’s ex-husband, Derek, at first appears to be a lovelorn fool, desperate to win back the wife he’s so mystified to have lost. But, as time goes on, we learn the reason that Deb appears to be so heartless towards him. And she’d rather let her children believe that she’s just being cruel than tell them the truth.
 BillWhen painfully-shy Bill first turns up on the beach, Deb mistakes him for a Peeping Tom, and nearly scares him off for good. But Bill has hidden depths beneath his quiet exterior. Let’s just say he becomes very important in Parts 2 and 3!
 I’d love to introduce Chloe, Cherie, Rick and Brian too, but I’ve run out of space. You can find them all, and more in The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
 Katherine May
August 2017

As this is both the first part of a story but also a complete work there are moments when you feel that perhaps things are rushing along a bit fast and simultaneously that there are too many cliffhangers or unexplained bits but just like a soap opera that it the book’s charm – you are left both satisfied but wanting more!

I’m from Kent and I do know the area the swimmers meet and the settings feel just right, and in a book where location is so important this is a real plus.  I’m not one for swimming in British seas, especially on grey damp days, but Katie May does make the water seem appealing even here and as I was reading this on a bright summer day all I wanted was to join the group, have a swim and then go to the pub with them for a cold white wine and chat afterwards!

I’m really looking forward to further parts of this book and also loving that this style of publishing is taking off, sometimes a perfect 100 page story is just what you want and knowing that there’ll be more really soon is perfect.

I hope that the other people like this as much as me and many thanks to Trapeze Books for sending me such a delight to read!