It's Labour Day weekend, so of course we went to the beach. Like we do every year. For a barbecue picnic with my best friend Rose. It's the perfect tradition-drinks, games, burgers, music, laughter. Together with our husbands, my two teenage sons and her two daughters, we all arrived as the sun was still shimmering over the water, the whole evening ahead of us.
But nothing goes to plan. Old secrets emerge, tempers flare. And so we parents decide to leave the beach, telling the teenagers to enjoy themselves, reassuring them someone will be back to collect them in an hour or two.
But when I return a little while later, I know something is really wrong. Our teens are slurring their words, stumbling to the car. It's clear they have been drinking and I'm shocked. I never expected our kids to behave this way. I'm bracing myself to have firm words with them in the morning, but the next day my concerns fade to nothing, when seventeen-year-old Bella claims my son Finn assaulted her.
Finn insists he would never do that. And I so want to believe him. Because I brought my son up right. Because a mother would know, wouldn't she?
What I don't know is that the answer to what happened that night on the beach may be a matter of life and death for one of our beloved children...
***
***
(Bookouture, 19 January 2023, e-book, 398 pages, copy from the publisher via NetGalley)
***
***
I've read and loved other books by the author, historical fiction so wanted to see what her contemporary fiction was like. I was not disappointed. I found That Night at the Beach to be an incredibly sad book and tense at times as it deals with sexual assault through the he said / she said lens. It was an uncomfortable read at times but so well-written and engaging I had to keep returning to it. I liked the fact the author tackled such a difficult subject with sensitivity. This is worth a read.