A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas @BevThomas20 BLOG TOUR @Faberbooks #AGoodEnoughMother @portassoph #Giveaway #Win

Dr Ruth Hartland rises to difficult tasks. She is the director of a highly respected trauma therapy unit. She is confident, capable and excellent at her job. Today she is preoccupied by her son Tom's disappearance.

So when a new patient arrives at the unit - a young man who looks shockingly like Tom - she is floored.

As a therapist, Ruth knows exactly what she should do in the best interests of her client, but as a mother she makes a very different choice - a decision that will have profound consequences.

A gripping and deeply intelligent psychological thriller for fans of Apple Tree Yard and Lullaby

A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas is published in hardback today, 4 April 2019 by Faber & Faber. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review and who invited me to take part in this blog tour.

I have one hardback copy of A Good Enough Mother to give away.
Entry is simple; just fill out the competition widget at the end of this post.
UK entries only.    GOOD LUCK!

A Good Enough Mother is a relatively short novel at just over 300 pages and I absolutely devoured it. It's a gripping, compelling and breath taking look at the therapist/patient relationship, and also a study in motherhood.  Just what is a 'good enough Mother'?
Is it good enough to ensure that your child is fed and clothed, or must a mother protect and defend their child?  Is 'good enough' actually enough?

Ruth Hartland is the Director of a London trauma clinic. She's very experienced and highly respected. She works with people who have experienced the most terrible tragedies, who are paralysed by their trauma. She works with them to overcome their issues; she's gentle and compassionate.

However, Ruth's own family is in turmoil. She's the mother of twins; Tom and Carolyn. Tom has been missing for over two years; vanished with no warning. He's taken no passport or credit cards, his bank account remains untouched and his disappearance has shattered their small family group. Ruth has not shared any of this with her colleagues. She's continued to work; to see clients and to run the clinic, and not one of her fellow workers have the faintest idea of what she's dealing with.

When Dan Griffin attends the clinic for his first appointment, Ruth is shocked. Dan is so like Tom; from his appearance to his mannerisms and despite her professionalism and her years of experience, she crosses boundaries with Dan that can only end in tragedy.

A Good Enough Mother drained me. There were times when I had to put it down, walk away and do something else, just so that I could absorb what I'd read, and deal with how it made me feel. Bev Thomas certainly draws on her own experiences as a clinical psychologist in her writing. Her descriptions of anguish and despair are immaculately composed, and at times are so raw that it's like a knife to the heart.

The reader is not just witness to the unfolding drama of Ruth and Dan's relationship, we are also told about other patients at the clinic and whilst these are only fleeting characters, each one of them are so totally relevant to the plot. 

This is also a brutally honest look into Ruth's own family relationships, as the author takes the reader back to when Tom and Carolyn were young. We feel Carolyn's emotions as she sees her brother take up most of their mother's energy, we feel Ruth's husband's anger and frustration as he and Ruth disagree on how to deal with Tom's many issues. We see the family gradually break down, slowly and desperately.

A Good Enough Mother is a remarkable novel, and I expect it to be in my top books of the year. It is intelligent, ambitious and incredibly disturbing. It is also brilliantly written, completely human and so intense. 

Utterly riveting and very very highly recommended from me. 

One Copy of A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas

Bev Thomas was a clinical psychologist in the NHS for many years. She currently works as an organisational consultant in mental health and other services. She lives in London with her family.
Twitter @BevThomas20