Absolutely heartbreaking. I almost regret reading it. I wanted to put this book down so many times because I knew it would break me. I don’t think you can truly imagine the loss of a child until you’re a parent and even then it is unimaginable. I didn’t know whether to love or hate Beth, Gabriel or Frank, and by the end you couldn’t hate any of them. This isn’t a happy ending but in its own way it is. The book itself is indescribable. It leaves you hooked and needing to read on even though you know it will crush you. Read on at your own risk, I don’t think this book will leave me for a long time. It truly summarises the extent people will go to for love and how you don’t realise the consequences of love until you’re in too deep.

A love triangle. The story is based round three main characters: Beth, Gabriel and Frank. It starts with a dog being shot for killing three lambs. Ten years on there’s a murder trial at the Old Bailey. There are several twists, though one concerning Beth didn’t ring true to me.

It's took me a while to come to writing this review mainly because I didn't know where to begin.

Every once in a while, a book comes along, a book that captures a piece of my heart, and Broken Country did just that.

'A kiss that feels like everything all at once. Unhinged. Tender. Too much, too much, nowhere near enough. Teeth snagging lips, hands caught in hair, every second of every year we've been apart in this kiss'

This story will forever stay with me, and no amount of words I write will do this story justice. I'm not going to say much about the plot other than it follows Beth, Gabriel, and Frank throughout their lives. It splits seamlessly between past and present. I completely lost myself in this story, and I didn't want it to come to an end.

Between these three characters, I felt an overwhelming amount of emotions, their tragedy, and their happiness. I fell in love with all three of them. Their stories, and the complexities of their lives left me feeling elated at times and with deep sadness too. It is both beautiful and heartbreaking.

It is a powerful love story that has left me grieving for these three characters. There is no amount of words I can write that will fully explain to you how this story has made me feel. I will say to you, go read it. if you want a romance that has depth and full of emotion, then this is for you.

Thank you, John Murray Press, for my advanced copy.

What a beautiful story! I couldn't put this down. Utterly brilliant from start to finish. Filled with so much love, heartache and hope. A bittersweet love story that was such a beauty to read.

This is an emotional, compellling and powerful read, a masterpiece, the tension and atmosphere builds as the story unfolds
A love triangle, Beth, Frank and Beth’s first love Gabriel, who made her heart pound from the moment she met him
Is it a love story, yes but it’s so much more, Beth is grieving, heartbroken at the loss of her son, trying to hold her and Frank together when Gabriel and his son return to the village. In a short space of time Beth finds herself wrapped up in their lives, she can feel the spark and tension between her and Gabriel. Frank watches silently.
Beth is caught up in her love triangle, there is steamy sex, lies and then another fatal accident.
The story is told in a dual timeline and flows seamlessly, at the beginning we know that someone is dead and there is a trial, the blanks are then filled in as the story is told, a story filled with every imaginable emotion, heartbreak, grief, anger, family relationships, sadness, love and hope.
Each character comes alive as they are woven into the story,
I don’t think any review could this book justice. It’s an outstanding read. What a movie this story would make.
Sometimes a book captures your heart and the story remains with you, this is one of those unforgettable ones.
Many thanks to Net Galley and John Murray Press for an ARC Of this amazing book in exchange for a review. Be prepared not to move once you start to read.

I sit writing this review virtually in the dark - I finished “Broken Country” only a few minutes ago and so keen was I to find out what happened, I couldn’t drag myself away to even switch the light on.

The story is told by the main character, Beth. It jumps between the current time which is entitled “The Trial”, “before” (which is set in the fifties and sixties) and 1968 (which tells the immediate events in the lead up to to the trial). While this may sound like it would be confusing, it wasn’t at all. The author carefully drip fed various different parts of the story - we find out about Beth’s youth and how she fell in love with Gabriel, how when that relationship fell apart, it was loyal and loving Frank who helped her to heal and who ends up marrying her, and how what happened with their son Bobby threatened to tear them apart. We also learn how all of these events lead to “The Trial” and, eventually, who is actually on trial, what they are on trial for and whether or not they are found guilty.

As the official description of this book says, this is a love story with the pulse of a thriller. I really couldn’t agree more. But there are many different forms of love that are covered and also, crucially, what happens when that love is lost.

I highly recommend this book. It was gripping, heartbreaking and beautiful. I was desperate to find out what happened but didn’t want it to end and that’s usually a sign of a great book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I cannot begin to describe how much I loved this book! It is an emotional roller coaster that will pull at your heartstrings and stay with you long after you have finished reading it. The book is best described by this line from the book:
"This is a love story with too many beginning."
Sadly, there can only be one ending: heartbreak. But sometimes flowers can grow through concrete, and second chances are possible if you believe hard enough.

It's a story about an all-consuming love that began with Garibaldi biscuits. We have a boy who possesses material wealth but yearns for a normal life and a girl who loves to dream.
"Two would-be writers, two dreamers, two lonely teenagers waiting for their lives to begin." - Beth Kennedy and Gabriel Wolfe.

It is also a story about loss—the loss of someone you thought would be your forever person. It's a story about second chances and how the loss of a child can strain a relationship. It poses the question: Is it possible to love more than one person simultaneously?
"It takes a certain mindset to exist within two parallel spheres."

You are confronted with so many emotions in this book. Love, loss, betrayal, heartache, sacrifice, and compassion.
It is the beautifully written story of Beth, Gabriel, and Frank, and I was captivating from the beginning to the end. It reminded me of a blend of "Where the Crawdads Sing" and "Go as a River" and I understand that the movie rights have been sold to 3000 Pictures and Candle Media's Hello Sunshine, a team that previously collaborated on the successful film adaptation of "Where the Crawdads Sing," a publishing phenomenon and Reese's Book Club Pick.

A must read!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and John Murray Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Oh my … Clare Leslie Hall captures first love, yearning, guilt, loss and deception with enviable and emotive deft. The bladder behind my eyes leaked as this multilayered story nears closure. The depths of love, family love and the search for release and redemption are beautifully described in this novel.

The only thing I am still trying to sort is why this very good has the title it has. Broken families would be more accurate! It is an intriguing read starting off with a story line that is not very unusual. A teenage boy from a posh family falls in love with a local farmer’s daughter. Despite his mother’s disapproval it looks as if they will be going off to Oxford universities together. Then other love interests intervene to upset what seems certain. As the book progresses, that apparently simple storyline becomes more and more complicated when they meet up again. In the interval, Beth has married a local farmer Frank, had a son who has been lost in a farming accident and seems to be settled. As the story moves on it is full of surprises which are sure to keep the reader enthralled.. it is a very rewarding read! I recommend it.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is a book that is going to stick with me, from the characters to the writing there was so much I loved about the book that I can even forgive it for breaking my heart. I have seen some people describe this as a love story but I warn you now this is not a book for those who love a happily ever after, yes there is joy and hope but only after a lot of tragedy so be prepared for this book to take you on an emotional journey.
Gabriel and Beth first met when they were teens and Gabriel and his wealthy family moved to her rural village and before long they were head over heels in love but when Gabriel left for university the gap between them grew and eventually they broke up. A decade passes before Gabriel, now a successful author, returns to the village with his young son in tow following a divorce. Beth has also moved on and married local man Frank who helped her pick up the pieces of her broken heart, but their life has not been without tragedy, their young son was killed in a farming accident leaving them both broken hearted. Their marriage is struggling and the return of Gabriel could be the final nail in the coffin as Beth finds herself increasingly drawn to her first love and getting dangerously close to his son. A second chance at first love could cost her everything because in a tragic turn of events her husband ends up in court facing a murder charge.
This book was nothing short of amazing, the characters sprang to life from the page and I found myself captivated by the choices they made, the reasons they gave and the consequences they faced. If you love a character driven story with a really strong sense of place this is just the sort of book you need to be reading. The storytelling was masterful, the compulsion to keep reading was impossible to resist and I ended up devouring this book in less than twenty four hours. The depiction of complex emotions like grief can be hard to do without it becoming melodramatic but here the sense of loss experienced by the characters was almost tangible, anyone who has lost a loved one will find much that resonates here.
This is already a contender for my book of the year.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I tried to start this one a number of times. I got about 20% in and gave up each time.. I know people loved it but there was something about it that just didnt work for me. I didnt particularly love the chracters and I didnt really like the setting… this one just wasn’t for me. I keep thinking I will go back but I know I wont.

For fairness I will be giving this a neutral rating but please read other reviewers as this one is quite popular I am just an outlier and I just really didnt like it.

Thank you for an advanced copy .

Quite frankly the best book I've ever read. That's it. That's the review.

Seriously though, was their anything remarkable about the plot? Not particularly, but the way it's written? Exquisite. How visceral it felt. The characters. Frank. Oh Frank. My heart. I just adored everything about this book.

Broken Country
By Claire Leslie Hall

This is the closest to a perfect book as I have come across in ages. It's one of those stories that picks you up, carries you away and then leaves you feeling forlorn and deserted, unable to move on. It has thrown me into the worst book hangover I have had in years.

How did this author capture me so completely? With an average of 300 books a year I thought I was immune to this.

Set in the rural West counties, it opens with a shooting, a farmer kills a dog who is bothering his sheep, but it soon transpires that another death has occurred, but we don't know who died yet, or who killed them, let alone why.

What follows is a carefully structured narrative, with split timelines, first love, a trial, a tested marriage, a love triangle, a dead child, a volatile alcohol, a second chance romance.

Everything shifts from allusion to revelation over the course of the story. There are cliff hanger chapter endings, there are reveals and twists, a decent pace, however this is not a murder mystery. I mean it is, but it is so much more than that. I have seen it compared to Where The Crawdads Sing, and actually there are many elements to this story that remind me of that particular reading experience, especially insofar as the murder is not the central part of the narrative, raw human emotions are the central part, lost love, grief, the pain of betrayal, class differences, being at one with nature.

It's only February, but still, I will be shocked if this isn't my favourite book of 2025. This book has something for everyone whether plot or character are your thing, but please note trigger warnings, the most pressing might, like for me, be your inability to find any book that could possibly hold your attention after this.

Riveting from start to finish.

Publication date: 4th March 2025
Thanks to ##Netgalley and #JohnMurrayPress for providing an ARC fit review purposes.

Omg this is one of the most beautifully written, emotionally charged books I’ve ever read. I just completely fell into it and became enveloped in its characters lives that wrapped around me like a weighted blanket-keeping me grounded but obsessed by this tale of love and loss. I’ve been a fan of this author as Claire Empson so knew her ability to weave an emotional connection throughout her storyline but this is brilliance on a different scale.
Absolutely incredible book that will stay with me for a very long time.

Broken country is the story of three people who were tied together by love and divided by circumstance. Their families lived close together but we're poles apart socially. Which mattered in the mid 20th century. The characters in this book are beautifully written espe.cially the main ones. They seem so real as does the countryside they live in. The descriptions of the wildlife are truly beautiful. The triple timeline narrative works well to progress the tension of the story. Revealing the twists bit by bit as the story builds which I really enjoyed. The ending was inspired! I'm not going to say more as I don't want to spoil it but yes I cried. A really beautifully written book that I happily recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed Broken Country and can definitely see why it is getting so much love! This literary thriller sucked me in from page one and kept me hooked right up to the end - which gave me a good little cry 😭

The book moves back and forth between time periods as the tale unfolds, balancing the love story and ‘whodunnit’ elements beautifully so that you are kept guessing while becoming more emotionally invested in the characters.

The themes of first love, grief, betrayal and family bonds make for such an emotionally engaging read. The characters were beautifully written and in a story where it could have been easy to dislike many of them, I found I couldn’t (apart from Gabriel’s awful mother of course - her brief moments jumped off the page with manipulative spite!).

I won’t say more for fear of giving anything away! But if you enjoy literary thrillers with a heartfelt love story, get it on your tbr!

I'm at a loss for words. I loved this book so much that I don't think I can find the right words to express how amazing it is! This book swept me off my feet, shattered my heart and put it back together again. I want to read it again for the first time. I thought it was incredibly well written with well developed realistic characters. In fact, some of the characters will stay with me for a long time. Bobby being one. It's such a beautifully crafted story. I've no doubt it's going to be a best seller. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to read and review this book before publication. It deserves a million stars and more.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall, what a fabulous tale of forbidden love, complex family dramas, and a murder trial set in the English countryside? Set across dual timelines, the story weaves smoothly. Well written and had me sobbing. Always worth five stars if it sets me off crying.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC, really appreciated.

Recommend.

Wow. This book has it all. Compelling reading combining mystery and romance set in a rural landscape. Love, betrayal, loyalty , guilt and sadness in a cast of flawed characters that will leave you with a tear in your eye

After a slow start, I enjoyed this book, and it made a long train journey go quickly.
The opening chapters are in a courtroom, somebody is on trial for murder, but we don't learn who and how until later in the book.
Beth, Frank and Gabriel grew up in a village in North Dorset. Gabriel was Beth's first love, but she married Frank, a local farmer, and has a happy life until Gabriel comes back and they find the attraction is still there.
The book is written in two separate timelines, from the 1950's when Beth and Gabriel first get together, then in the late 1960's when Gabriel returns and the events leading to the court case.
There are some lovely scenes in the book, particularly those set in the farm in happy times, and the introduction of Nina to the family. I loved Nina, she is her own person and has strong principles.
Recommended.