Broken Country is an emotional journey from start to finish—one of those rare books that quietly slips into your heart and stays there. Clare Leslie Hall masterfully weaves a story that’s both deeply human and universally relatable, showing how people navigate the circumstances life throws their way. The characters don’t just survive hardship—they live through it with grit, heart, and sometimes even grace.

Despite the weight of the themes, the writing is incredibly accessible. Hall’s style is clear, warm, and full of compassion. It’s the kind of book that makes you pause and reflect—not just on the story itself, but on your own world, your own choices, and the resilience of people all around us.

A true masterpiece—moving, powerful, and unforgettable. And yet, so easy to read.

Broken Country was the March book club pick for @reesesbookclub and I did an immersive read, listening as I followed along in my early reader copy, thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley. I found it easy to listen to, even though some of the content is hard to hear, if that makes any sense.

Broken Country is set in the English countryside and described beautifully, including the farms and lakes and old houses. I had a vivid picture in my mind, which doesn’t always happen for me. The book spans a bunch of genres - there is coming of age drama, there is romance, there is a death and a trial for murder - and the suspense of not knowing who/what the trial is about until pretty far into the book. Themes of belonging (vs. being an outsider) and family (including familial responsibility) are well established. And the ending packs such a punch! I GASPED and immediately texted one of my book besties who had recently finished, while I was still listening - but then I gasped again and was like wait, there is more that I didn’t see coming?! I had to fully finish before I could start diving into it with her. I love when an ending hits me that strongly!
I definitely recommend this book (and audio!), because I think it’s well-written and the content lends itself to great discussion, perfect for a book club. It’s available everywhere now.

Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall is a stunning, emotional journey that will undoubtedly stand out as one of the best books you’ll read in 2025. This novel gracefully combines romance, heartbreak, and personal growth with a deep exploration of the bonds that keep a family unbreakable.

The story unfolds in a quaint, picturesque setting of the English countryside that immediately draws you into a world filled with rich history and subtle beauty. Hall’s writing is both evocative and deeply immersive, painting a vivid picture of the characters’ lives as they navigate the complexities of love, loss, and redemption. You’ll find yourself falling in love with the idyllic settings, which become almost like another character in the novel — a silent witness to the transformations taking place within the characters.

The romance in Broken Country is powerful.. Beth and Gabriel’s young love will evoke memories of high school sweethearts. Beth and Frank’s steadier, slower, deeper love isn’t as exciting but is more realistic in order to last. But at the heart of this novel is not just romance; it’s about personal growth, the painful but necessary journey toward forgiveness, and the healing that can only come with time. I saw the twist at the end coming but it was no less heartbreaking when it did occur.

What truly sets this book apart is its exploration of family. Hall delves into the complexities of family dynamics, depicting the sometimes strained but always unbreakable bonds that tie people together. The characters’ growth — both individually and as a unit — is beautifully woven throughout the narrative, leaving readers with a sense of hope and optimism, even in the face of hardship.

Overall, Broken Country is a powerful, unforgettable read that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Whether you’re a fan of romance, family sagas, or heartfelt stories of redemption, this book promises to be a standout in 2025. Highly recommend!

From the very first page, this book had me hooked! While it’s not a thriller in the traditional sense, it definitely delivers the same gripping intensity with its intricate mystery. Told in a dual timeline, the story slowly unravels a past full of secrets, leading up to a tense murder trial. Who died? Who’s on trial? And, most importantly—why? Every chapter peels back another layer, making it impossible to stop reading.

The twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat, just like my favorite thrillers do. As the mystery unfolds, the suspense only builds, keeping you guessing until the very end. The dual timeline adds extra depth, making you feel like a detective piecing everything together alongside the characters. If you love a story that keeps you engaged and constantly questioning what’s really going on, this one is a must-read!

Loved the way this book was written, broken up in parts by main characters and a trial in between where you can’t figure out who exactly died and who is on trial for it. It’s so intricately woven between a love triangle but gives all the feels of Bridges of Madison County-at first. Once I thought I had the twist figured out I was disappointed only to find out that wasn’t the twist at all. This one deserves 10 stars

There’s a lot of buzz around this book that I find hard to understand. On paper this sounds like exactly my cup of tea but in execution, I found it really difficult to buy into this story. I never found myself rooting for Beth and Gabriel. In fact, I was rooting against them since their affair felt so juvenile and melodramatic. No matter how many times they said that “we’re meant for each other” I just couldn’t get past the fact that they had only ever known each other for like 3 or 4 months in their whole lives. I think part of the problem for me is that we don’t learn the big “bombshell” piece of information that makes everything make sense until the very end and at that point it’s too late. We’ve already spent the whole book feeling like, this doesn’t really make sense.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Broken Country, by Clare Leslie Hall, from Simon & Schuster/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Some days I amaze myself. Other days I think lettuce has more walking-around sense.

Obviously I was having one of the latter when I requested and received this book. Why oh why in the world did I think I would truly enjoy anything blurbed by the author of Where the Crawdads Sing? I didn’t flat-out hate that book, but I am still to this day annoyed that I spent any time with it.

Anyway, to the book at hand: It wasn’t awful, but it was awfully trope-y. I think my main issue with it was that the characters felt too modern to be believable within the time frame in which the storylines were set.

And it was as predictable as all get-out.

Should’ve realized when it didn’t grab me from the get-go that it wasn’t for me. REALLY should’ve realized that when I quite literally had to force myself to finish it this afternoon.

Oh, well. I reckon that once again I’m in the minority. And, hey—good for the author for writing a book! Especially one that so many other people seemed to really love.

DESCRIPTION
A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK | A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is an unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives…but it’s also a masterfully crafted mystery that will keep you guessing until the very last page. Seriously, that ending?! I did not see it coming.” —Reese Witherspoon

“Stirring and mysterious…fires directly at the human heart and hits the mark.” —Delia Owens, New York Times bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing

A love triangle unearths dangerous, deadly secrets from the past in this thrilling tale perfect for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.

“The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.”

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.

Thanks to @simonandschuster and @netgalley for my early copy!

BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall tells a powerful and captivating story about a woman confronted with her past after one gunshot brings about dire consequences.

This book has one of the best first lines I’ve ever read. “The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.” If that didn’t grab my attention the quick jump into the story would have. That first line truly sets the tone for the entire sequence of events.

I loved the dual timeline and how we were invited into Beth’s past and her present. The structure was enhanced even more by interspersing parts of the trial.

I was so entranced by this entire story and genre bending tale. This will be a top book of the year for me without a doubt.

This was a quick read with short chapters. It grabbed me from the first sentence. Broken Country has a little bit of everything; dual timelines, mystery, murder trial (I just love books with trials), and romance (more like a love triangle). The characters are flawed but you love them. I highly recommend this book. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster & Clare Leslie Hall for the ARC of this that I had the pleasure of reading!

✨Book Review✨
Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

This book is one of devastation, strength, family, and love, so much love. I essentially knew nothing about this book when I started it, other than the fact that it took Bookstagram by storm. And for good reason.

The heavy themes and topics in this book are hard & messy but the storytelling by the author make it all feel so raw and real. The pacing was great- short chapters separated by dates and alternating timelines. The different settings between homes in England, picturesque settings, the farm and the courtroom kept me engaged. I did, however, sometimes struggle with where we were date wise with the back and forth but that’s a me thing.

I absolutely did not predict the ending- I knew it wasn’t what it was they were fabricating but did not expect the outcome of what actually happened. The other plot twist had my jaw on the floor too. If you know you know. While that last one was essential to the storytelling, I feel like it made Beth even more unlikable and is my reasoning for not giving it a 5 star rating. It’s personal, I know. She did what she felt was right at the time and goodness gracious was Frank (& impeccable timing) everythingggggg. Frank > Beth.

Read if you like:
•English countryside settings
•Courtroom settings & Trials
•Love Triangles (even if you don’t like them, this book is worth the read)
•Books that make you weep tears of sadness & joy
•Books that make you say “wtf”
•Genre blending of historical fiction, literary fiction, romance & mystery.

⭐️ This one was hard for me to rate and I usually don’t give quarter ratings, but this one is 4.75 stars for me.

TW: Cheating, death of child & adults, guilt, secrets, alcoholism, gun violence, and probably more that I’m forgetting.

If I could give this book 6000 stars, I would. I think this is the best told story I have read in quite some time.

While the reader feels like they are delving into just another basic soap opera story about a family on a farm and a murder, they will soon find themselves unable to tear themselves away. The mystery itself reveals little by little, in between poignant flashbacks and storytelling mastery. I could barely read the end because I was just openly sobbing.

This book is a wonder, and I just hope they don't ruin it when someone inevitably puts it onscreen.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this story about love and heartbreak with a twist of mystery. The end of this story is truly unexpected.

I can't say why but I just had such high hopes for this one. Ever since I saw the cover I just felt like there was going to be something special about this one. I can happily say that this was absolutely true. It's not quite a perfect five star new favorite for me. I felt that the pacing was a bit off in places, too slow at times and too fast in others, as well as wanting a little more balance between timelines in the flow of the chapters. But I really fell in love with the characters and the setting, I was hooked into the mystery and suspense of the plot. This was such a fantastic story. It felt so real while reading it. I still feel like these people actually existed. Highly recommend! This one is going to be on so many favorites lists this year! A beautiful story with beautiful writing.

Beth and Frank have a loving relationship and they own and run a sheep farm with Frank's younger brother Jimmy whom Beth adores. One day a strange dog runs onto the farm and attacks the sheep and Jimmy had not choices but to put the dog down when a young boy runs up to them screaming and crying "You shot my dog" over and over. Beth runs over to care for the boy when his father walks up and Beth realized it's none other than Gabriel, her teenage love of her life that she spent the most romantic and passionate summer of her lifetime. They thought they were soul mates during that time and Beth has never gotten over Gabe but she never thought she would see him again since he happened to become one of the most well-known novelists of the 1960's. What happened to this couple when they were teenagers and what will happen when Beth learns Gabriel lives less than several minutes walking distance from her farm and what about Frank, the most gentle, loving, patient man who may have ever walked this earth! Frank has endured many storms in his lifetime but will he be able to weather this tornado which is about to be unleashed on him without the security of having a shelter to protect his heart and soul.


This story has wonderful dual timelines that stem from the years 1955 -1968 .and will carry the reader on a passionate journey revolving around a love triangle. The writing was beautiful with colorful but not overdone descriptions of the picturesque English countryside and the small country village where everyone knows everything about their neighbors so there aren't many secrets that are able to be kept hidden. Unbelievably good character development without the feeling of being bogged down so the story flows wonderfully from each timeline so the reader won't get lost or confused.
The prelude about who was shot, why and who did it will carry through to the end with some heart wrenching court scenes as well. This novel had so many emotional. components, since every character came with their own set of history or baggage. For myself the realism of the storytelling is what drew me in and I could visualize everything as if this story was a movie playing in front of me. There was so much love and passion from these flawed characters that many readers will relate to it especially if they had ever experienced such strong feelings of being in love and the pain of relationships abruptly coming to an end.

'Claire Leslie Hall' wrote a magnificent novel of love, loss, grief, forgiveness and misunderstandings. The atmospheric beauty of the scenery and village was breathtaking at times and it was wonderful to read a story taking place in these older decades where the author depicted lives being lived in a time so alien to our past twenty to thirty years with all of modern technologies and home and public conveniences yet it was so easy to picture what life might have been like in those days. Superb writing and storytelling. This novel " BROKEN COUNTRY " may be unforgettable for many of us especially if the reader allows themselves to be carried away on the waves of emotion within the writing without harboring harsh judgements towards any of the characters actions. Mistakes will be made, relationships tested, pain and suffering will be felt and remember there will always be consequences for actions whether right or wrong. This is not the genre of book I would normally read so I most strongly recommend this novel to all readers and I am definitely looking forward to reading more books from this talented author.

I want to thank the publisher 'SIMON & SCHUSTER' and for the opportunity to read this digital copy and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given a rating of 4 1/2 STUNNING AND HEARTFELT 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌠 STARS!!

LOTS of melodrama. It's a propulsive read. It's marketed as a mystery and thriller but it's not. There's some suspense. This is a story about a love triangle.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this one, but am very happy that I was chosen to receive an ARC from the publisher. This novel of family drama is exceptionally well-written and I was so captivated that I read it in less than a day. I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to hear the verdict of the jury, and was utterly captivated by the entire story. I loved it and highly recommend it.

Wow. This book. You know when you finish a book, and you just sort of sink into the pillows of the couch with a blanket and sit and try to make sense of what you just read and how you feel about it. Then somebody comes home and walks right past you, and panics that you're not there because you've become one with the couch?

Yeah. This is one of those. It did have a bit of a slow start for me, but once I got into it I couldn't stop reading. It didn't matter exactly what the twists were, if you guessed things ahead of time. Even if you thought you knew where this story was heading, the way it unfolded... beautifully written, feelings and emotions that seem subtle and containable until you realize they have you in a chokehold.

Definitely made me cry. Caused quite a bit of distress. Oh my gosh, this book. I want to hear what other people think about it, if they can find answers where I can't, or if they're sitting with this book the same way I am.

I really loved Broken Country! It mixes mystery and romance—my two favorite genres—so I was hooked right away. The writing was stunning: vivid, emotional, and super engaging without feeling overdone. I flew through it because I just had to see how everything would play out.

Some of the twists were a bit predictable, and honestly, I wouldn’t have minded if it were a little longer—there were parts I wanted more of, especially the trial portion. But even with that, I really enjoyed the overall vibe and would totally recommend it if you're into stories that are both suspenseful and heartfelt.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC!

Everyone loved this one, and while I didn’t feel the same, I understand why I’m in the minority opinion. Some books are just better for you at different times in your life.

Had I read this during my Nicholas Sparks-reading, The Notebook-loving days, then yes, I’d be into a romance where a love triangle is at its center.

But now, the simplest of miscommunications led to so many heartbreaks, and for what? To string people along and use them to your advantage, and call it love? No, thank you – I’m no longer in a place where love triangles are romanticized.

Be an adult. Make a decision.

My heart goes out to Frank, who was my favorite character, and all my boo-hiss feelings go toward Beth, who is problematic in so many ways.

Also, there are plot twists that have been done so many times before. However, it was smart to do a multiple POV timeline, but ultimately, this would’ve been better suited for a younger version of myself when my view of this type of starry-eyed romance would’ve been more aligned with the popular take on this book.

You know from the first page of this novel that something really bad has happened and it will affect many people. The author slowly reveals through several timelines how a farmer is dead, what led to the death and how the past can have unintended powers over the current time.
The setting for BROKEN COUNTRY is Dorset, a rather isolated area of England from about 1955 to 1969. Beth and her husband Frank raise sheep with David, Frank's father and Jimmy, Frank's younger brother. Beth had dreamed in her younger days of going to Oxford. Her parents were teachers and encouraged her. For a variety of reasons that dream never came true. Beth is content in her life now even after suffering a terrible loss.
I am not adding spoilers since the pivotal episode is printed on the cover flap. A dog comes running out of nowhere and kills several lambs. Jimmy gets a rifle and shoots the dog to prevent more killings. A young boy runs up and yells at Jimmy, "You killed my dog". Not far behind the boy comes his father, Gabriel. Beth is shocked to see Gabriel after the many years he's been gone. They had a summer of passion and love when they were teenagers, Miscommunications and Gabriel's mother tore them apart.
As the novel weaves between different times and events there are many twists and turns worthy of a modern thriller. As secrets become unraveled, you realizes things are never what they seem and consequences can have dire repercussions. Love is explored on many levels. Can you ever truly let go of the first love you experienced?
I read this for my April B&N book club. We all loved it. This edition had a letter in the front from the author to the reader. It's impressive how much research she did; even birthing a lamb. The discussion questions in the back helped our group to pull out parts that resonated and question choices made.
I earlier received a digital ARC thanks to NetGalley. Thanks to the author and Simon & Schuster (my favorite publisher) for giving me the opportunity to read and review this fabulous novel.