by Margaret Drabble, Esther Freud, Sophie Mackintosh
First published 2019
On the northeast edge of Hampstead Heath, a sign marks an extraordinary space: Women Only. The Kenwood Ladies' Bathing Pond—London's sole female-exclusive wild swimming site—holds decades of unspoken stories. Margaret Drabble traces the pond's origins from its 1925 public opening through generations of women who have found sanctuary in its green, silty waters. As swimmers glide through the pond's depths, they become part of an intimate urban landscape where personal histories intersect with municipal memory. Beyond mere recreation, the pond represents a rare metropolitan space where women claim autonomy, privacy, and collective experience. What secrets ripple beneath its surface? What conversations have echoed along its banks across nearly a century of social transformation?
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
Setting: Hampstead Heath, Kenwood Ladies' Bathing Pond, London
Period: 1925, 20th-century, 21st-century
198 pages · Kindle Edition · Daunt Books