I really enjoyed this book, it had a lot of tense moments in it and I couldn’t read it in a day as it wasn’t what I would call a relaxing read! The characters were all very different and I loved how the scenery of Dorsey made for some great moments. I would have liked Jess to have been more in holiday mode than getting involved in the village as fast as she did but that’s a minor hiccup on my part.

As autumn approaches, Jess - and the reader - will come to realise this is going to end in a way no-one could have imagined. . . I liked the development between all the characters they felt real and gave a good insight into where they all were mentally in their lives. Having said that I didn't necessarily like all the characters, but then not all characters need to be likeable and at times it felt like there were too many stories all trying to be told in the one story to do any of them real justice, it could easily have been split into two books. I adore how Bev Thomas writes! The love affair began with A Good Enough Mother and continues here with The Family Retreat-an emotional look at family, the lies we let ourselves believe and the sacrifices family demands from us. If I did trigger warnings then I wouldn’t know where to start as there are some very difficult subjects covered here but I don’t and every single distressing situation is handled perfectly by an author who completely understands the dynamics of relationships within families.Jess communicates on a weekly basis with a therapist via the internet, having to go to a neighbour’s house where the signal is better. She befriends her neighbour Helen, who, similarly has two children, and the four young off-spring spend time together, trawling the beaches with their mothers. As the friendship grows, Helen starts to confide in Jess, sharing personal information. Meanwhile, Jess is struggling to piece together the snippets of information around the increasingly erratic behaviour exhibited by her father, whilst also still being sharply aware of her own sister’s mental health issues. It is a complex family dynamic that Jess understands but is forced to confront as she tries and keeps all the plates spinning. The author asks intelligent questions, she excavates – why is Jess’ father behaving in this out of character way; what is it that contributed — maybe caused — her sister’s anorexia, and why is fellow holiday maker, Helen, so aggravatingly perfect? In the cottage next door Helen her husband James and there two children Ollie and Lexie have also come to spend the summer in Helen's mum cottage whilst she is away. Even though James can only visit at weekends due to setting up is own business. I loved the characterisation because, through the lynchpin of Jess, we get to know the people in The Family Retreat so completely. Jess felt totally real to me and so many aspects of her personality resonated with me personally, particularly that of trying to be all things to all people, so that the narrative was all the more affecting. However, the one person who astounded me most was Polly who is a universal everywoman so familiar in today’s society. Helen’s response to Polly’s experiences has a seismic impact on the reader and I wish every politician and patriarchal figure could read The Family Retreat so that they understand the lives of so many in our society. Through these characters Bev Thomas gave me far greater clarity and understanding than any factual account has managed. A retreat suggests a place of reflection and learning and my word do these characters learn about themselves and others!

There is also the local farmer Pete and his wife Joyce and their eighteen year old son Loe who has learning difficulties. In the adjoining cottage is Penny and her father Phillip. GP Jess, her writer husband Rob and their children Sam and Ruby retreat to a seaside cottage for a month as Rob believes Jess in particular needs a break from their London life. At a fundraising event Jess meets Helen, their initial meeting is not auspicious but then something changes when Helen asks for Jess’s help. I chose this book because I'm a fan of mysteries, I thought it might be something like the genres that I have read before. However, this book is more of a suspense drama.There are certainly aspects of this book that are impressive. The writing is intelligent and there are a number of astute observations of human behaviour. I quite enjoyed the earlier sections of the novel, but by the 40% mark I was tired of the constant carrot dangling and promises of "jam tomorrow" - I wanted more tangible gratification for the time I had invested. I was actually to be kept waiting for some significant time to come, as it is only in the final quarter of the novel that there is a marked gear change. However, even with this eventual upping of pace, I found that I was not really feeling satisfied. Although the long-missing momentum had finally arrived, the narrative also became disjointed. The author was raising some significant and important issues - but there were too many of them and they were being presented in a fashion that was too fractured for the impact to be maximised. As indicated above this story unfolds at a measured pace and its revelations felt quite organic. At times Jess does reflect upon her past and we learn of the reasons for her need for time away from the demands of her profession. The Family Retreat is fabulously written, and I loved the setting descriptions particularly. It comes as no surprise that the author was a psychologist as the authenticity, the sensitivity and the authority of the psychological elements is mesmerising, making the book a brilliant read. There are some difficult themes explored through the narrative that give The Family Retreat incredible depth and maturity. I enjoyed the author's observations; her characters were rich and detailed, and I found their behaviours to be astutely depicted. The description of the women in the story having to manage men's emotions, to dim their own feelings to make room for the men in their lives was interesting food for thought, making me think about instances from my own life. The story was compelling and engrossing. First, I admit that I really disliked the first 50% of this book (which made it a long haul). It moved very slowly, and it seemed so predictable, but not all of it was.