After writing The Cancer Ladies’ Running Club, I was halfway through another novel when Covid struck. As the weeks unfolded, I realised that the whole emotional landscape of our world had changed and the novel I was writing no longer chimed with the times.
I am very grateful to my clever agent, Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown, who supported me changing tack, and her assistant, Rosie Pierce. I’d like to say a huge thank you to my brilliant editor Emily Kitchin and everyone at HQ, especially Lisa Milton who kept all her authors updated during some tricky times. I’d like to thank Katie Seaman who also helped edit, Sarah Lundy in PR, Melissa Kelly in marketing and everyone in production. I’m super proud to be an HQ author and I’d like to thank all the other authors who support me on the socials and all the booksellers and libraries and book clubs who champion authors like me.
They say that the first rule of writing is to write what you know and so I turned to my own doorstep for inspiration. I wanted to write about what we gained during lockdown, rather than what we lost – and for me, that was a renewed appreciation of nature and a deeper sense of community.
I’d been living in Brighton for twelve years and had plunged in the sea at the end of the road in the summer, lazily bobbed around in our blow-up kayake and fallen off a few paddleboards in that time, but I’d never considered swimming out of season. But when Covid struck, the sea took on a whole new significance.
As Claire says in the book, I really did have an epiphany, wondering how on earth I’d lived by this whole other element for over a decade and never taken any notice of the tide times, or the currents. I started swimming regularly and quickly found a new tribe of plucky bobble-hatted, Dryrobe wearing, tea-drinking super-women (and men) and together we took the plunge in the rain, snow, frost and sun, at dawn, at sunset. I soon became an addict for the cold-water hit and the sense of camaraderie.
The sea-swimming community in Brighton and all along this bit of coast has expanded massively thanks mostly to Cath and Kath who run Seabirds Social Enterprise – a shop and seasonal swim school that champions sea swimming as a way to be happier and healthier, so I’d like to give a big shout out to them, for their incredible achievement and starting the ever-growing Salty Seabirds Facebook group of which we’re all proud members.
I’d also like to thank the inspirational Jo Godden from Rubymoon for her sustainable and ethical swimwear and also for organising the Full Moon swims. I’d also like to thank Lorelei Mathias, one of my fellow swimmers for her writing support and to everyone involved with The South Coast Sirens – a group we set up to try and tackle the water pollution issue. I also like to give a huge shout out to the team at the Lifeguards office in Brighton. I’d also really like to thank the amazing folk at Knight (knightsupport.org.uk) a wonderful charity making a huge difference to the homeless and rough sleepers in Brighton.
I’d really like to thank my own swimming gangs to whom this book is fondly dedicated – The West Pier/Bandstand Saltys and The Splash and Bobbers and The Brunswick Bathing Beauties, especially Katy Whelan for weathering over thirty years of friendship. I’d also like to thank Sophie for her beautiful Lunar Tidal Calendar, Sheelagh for her swimming lessons, Tara for her invaluable insight into Homelessness, Alice for always adding a touch of glamour, Anita for being the life and soul, as well as Helen and Michael, JP and Thiago (and Walt, of course) and the lovely Steph. Plus a big thanks to Michaelino for the intel on the Samaritans.
As well as writing about community, I really like writing about female friendship and I’m lucky enough to have a tribe of women in my life who mean the world to me. I’d really like to thank Bronwin Wheatley and Eve Tomlinson, along with Shân Lancaster and Louise Dumas, my ever-supportive early readers. A big thank you to ever-supportive Harriet Rees and also to Dawn Howarth, who has held my hand now through all my books – this being my twentieth novel. Thank you, too, to Dinah, Clare-Bear, Ruth and Orshi. Thanks too, to Lesley Thomas as well as Alice from Posh Totty Designs, Jenny Dunn for her wonderful yoga lessons and Jo Darling for her acupuncture.
Lastly, thank you to my wonderful family for always keeping me afloat with your love and humour, especially my sister Catherine Lloyd – my fellow swimmer and Christmas Day dipper (I promise I will get you a more flattering swimming hat), Kirsti, Dad and Dianne, Aunty Liz and to my intrepid water babies, Tallulah, Roxie and Minty. Thank you to Ziggy, for standing guard on the shoreline and making sure I get back to dry land safely, where his best friend Frankie Knuckles is often to be found helpfully keeping my towel warm.
Most of all, my love and thanks to my husband and literal lifesaver, Emlyn Rees for everything – and for coming up with a cracking title.