J. M. Barrie Ladies' Swimming Society

When Joey Rubin stumbles upon a group of elderly women swimming in a lake one freezing January morning, she thinks they must be mad. But then they dare her to come in - Joey, an overworked New York architect, has come to the Cotswolds to oversee the restoration of Stanway House - the stately home that inspired J.M. Barrie to write Peter Pan. But it hasn't been easy. The local residents aren't exactly welcoming, and then there's the problem of the brooding caretaker, a man who seems to take every opportunity to undermine her plans. She soon begins to feel that she can't do anything right. Until, that is, she begins to take a daily dip with the members of the J.M. Barrie Ladies' Swimming Society in their private, watery Neverland. They will teach her that it's not the house that needs restoring; it's her - 

 A warmhearted funny novel that explores the secret lives of women - from the ages of 15 to 85...

Review: This is Ecott at his best. His prose is incisive and elegiac. From the book's opening line we are there among the gannets, the pilot whales and sea-butted cliffs, wrestling with the winds and the enigma that is this Land of Maybe. Absorbing stuff, full of the ancient lore and very modern predicaments that daily beset the proud Faroese on their rocky outpost.'