A beautifully woven story of true love. The lives of Beth, Gabriel and Frank are told through alternating time lines. A very enjoyable moving read.

Thanks to Netgalley and John Murray Press for a review copy of this novel. Heartbreaking and wonderfully crafted, this novel drew me in from the start. Touted as a novel that compares with 'Paper Palace', it without a doubt has echoes of that novel, but it’s poignancy is more direct and the tension is carved from terrible consequences that build up at an inevitable pace.

Beth meets Gabriel one summer day while out on a walk. She is seventeen and he a year older, waiting to go up to Oxford when the fall term begins. Though they argue initially they’re drawn together by their love for and ambition in literature, but also something beyond definition, a chemistry that is unmatched, all consuming. But she comes from the local community and he’s from the big house, from a social circle she cannot feel comfortable in. And when people and separation put their love to the test it fails and Beth is devastated. It’s Frank that picks up the pieces, a farmer who has loved her since he was thirteen. Beth finds love and contentment with Frank, especially when they have Bobby, their son who becomes the centre of their universe. But his tragic death puts a hole in their relationship that seems impossible to mend. It’s then that Gabriel enters their lives again, after he returns home with his son after the breakup of his marriage. Beth finds him and his son impossible to resist and it tears her apart. It’s a tension that drives the novel throughout—the love of two men, one desperate love, one steady and deep, but now flawed. It’s about choice and consequences. Foreseen and unforeseen.

The novel really makes for compelling and compulsive reading. The three characters are carefully drawn and entirely sympathetic which only adds to the poignancy and heartbreaking quality of the narrative. The structure of changing between time frames helps drive the tension as well making for a need to read to the end kind of feeling. Recommended.

Imagine scenario that your first love is coming back stronger than ever and makes you realise that it never ended? But.. You're grieving mother that is happily married.. But are you?
"Broken Country" by Clare Leslie Hall is outstanding women's fiction that has it all. Marriage, affair, grief and your first love unexpected come back.. To top it up - there is also a murder. Immense story about strength of love, loyalty and family bounds. It's written masterfully and makes you feel you see everything as you would be there watching the story unravelling..
Brilliant book that will make you thinking about all of your own what ifs...

I've received my advance copy from Netgalley in exchange for the honest review. What a read

Hall has crafted an exquisitely beautiful book; it is both unashamedly romantic but extremely hardhitting as it deals with raw emotions such as grief, loss and romantic sacrifice. A compelling story about forgiveness, but most of all its about love with a vivid set of characters that will capture your heart.

I adored it.

It’s hard to convey how much this novel impacted me. I was thoroughly captivated by it and shall never forget it. It is beautifully written and tuned into the glories of nature, the fallibility of human nature, and the fragility of relationships. It’s down to earth with no holds barred, displaying the extraordinary beauty of the consummation of love so sensitively described. Socially, Gabriel and Beth are far removed, but they find a connection as teenagers and spend a hedonistic summer together until they become estranged through a misunderstanding. Beth marries Frank, a dedicated farmer. Tragedy stalks them, and the union wobbles. The loss of their son, Bobby, is the white elephant between them. When Gabriel reappears in her life, Beth is at a vulnerable point of time. The first cut is the deepest. Beth can’t resist the magnetism – like a moth to a flame. The consequences are dire.

I loved the descriptive passages of the village, the farm, the farm animals, and the wildlife. The imagery will remain with me. I devoured every word with a mix of immense enjoyment shadowed by the tragic incidents. I loved all the characters, which were so well-defined and with humour. The literary and musical references were nostalgic, personally, as they were set in my childhood and teenage era. I struggled with the lurcher incident despite understanding from all points of view the necessary but shocking action taken. The catalyst that possibly triggered events.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.