Elizabeth is newly widowed after her GP husband Eric died. Their relationship had been hard work and distant for some time, but after he dies Elizabeth is left reeling when she discovers that he had a gambling problem and has left her thousands of pounds in debt. The GP surgery is attached to her home. She needs to find someone to take over and quickly before she loses both of them.

Jo is an older lady who has lived in the tiny Irish village of Ballycove all her life. She is alone and looking frail but she is the heart of the community and always offering to help others, including Elizabeth as she has a suggestion. Her daughter Lucy is a doctor.

Lucy is left picking up the pieces after her now ex-husband left her and their son and heading to Australia to be with someone else. She is a doctor in a busy A&E department and has just taken some leave as she was nearly burnt out from dealing with everything. She heads to Ballycove to be near her mother and the sea and hopefully turn her life around.

These three women form The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club where they can swim away their troubles in the freezing cold waters of the Irish sea. It is a place they can be alone, gather their thoughts, talk, laugh, and listen.

The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club is a beautiful story of friendship. It is a tale of grief, forgiveness, loneliness, heartbreak, second chances, and so much more.

The women are so alike and so different from one another. They are all dealing with personal issues, some going back years, others shocking sad new news. I loved all of them. They were warm, caring, compassionate, and so lovely to spend your time with.

As well as the women we also meet Dan who had rented a cottage in the village after leaving his high-flying job and needing some time out and Lucy’s teenage son Niall who hates his boarding school and wants to come home.

The book is told between April and August, in five monthly parts and from Elizabeth’s, Jo’s, Lucy’s, Dan’s, and Niall’s points of view. I’m not always a lover of multiple points of view but I’m not sure this book would have been so touching and intimate had we not heard from them each individually. It is a beautiful book that covers some emotional subjects and you may need some tissues now and again, however, it is certainly worth your time just to get to know these special women who you won’t forget in a hurry.