I think this book has already broken me into a million pieces—in the best possible way! It carries a melodramatic tone but is heartbreakingly powerful, deeply penetrating your emotions. At first glance, you might think it’s a typical, clichéd love triangle: a grieving woman, still mourning the loss of her son and trying to hold on to her marriage with her kind-hearted husband, suddenly finds her ex—the love of her life—returning to town. He’s freshly divorced and has a son the same age her son was when he died. Cue the whistles and the inevitable “here comes trouble” reaction!
There’s still a spark between the former lovers, and as they rekindle their connection, someone is bound to get hurt. Every action comes with consequences. Despite its simplicity, this book manages to be so much more than just an unfinished love story. Blended with elements of crime, mystery, and courtroom drama, it’s a gripping, unputdownable read. I couldn’t stop thinking about it!

Set in the 1950s/60s, Beth and her husband Frank are living a quiet life in the English countryside until her brother-in-law shoots a dog on their sheep farm. The owner of the dog turns out the be the only other man Beth has ever loved, Gabriel. The book sets up that there is a trial but the reader is unsure who has been killed and who is on trial until much further in the novel. While that is slowly revealed we learn, through flashbacks and present day scenes, of Beth's relationship with both Gabriel and Frank as well as their other historical entanglements and tragedies.

I'm not sure why I waited so long to read this one, I've had it forever (although I'm glad I waited until @simonaudio gifted me the audiobook to accompany the book because the narrator was wonderful). I kept seeing the hype around this novel and I was concerned that it wouldn't live up to it, but I became almost instantly engrossed in this book that I texted my friend (who I was buddy reading this one with) that I was at 24% and then three hours later I had to text her that I was already done. This story has multidimensional characters, the pacing works and the story has unpredictable twists and turns as any good mystery should. The author was at my Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago but I missed it and now I am so disappointed! This will definitely be on my best of list and I will be recommending to everyone. I can see why this is a Reece pick.

4.5 stars

Thank you to S&S and NetGalley for the ARC to review

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fantastic! It was everything I didn’t know I needed at this moment! The ending! So many twist and turns it made my head spin. I loved all the complicated relationships between the main characters and their children. I would highly recommend if you love family drama and mysteries! This book will not disappoint you!

This book was so well written. Because I like how she Divided the Chapters on each character in the book. And how she Told the story in the past tense and then in the future. There is also a Trial in this book which ties all the characters together. BE t. H. Was a young girl in. RURAL.England. The shoulder how she really wanted to go to oxford. She fell in love with Ga. BRI ELWO LF. E! Frank Also l Look her too She had a summer Love affair. G APR i.e. L.. He was very W e a l t h. She also came from a poor background. I like how she started to develop herself but things turned really bad.When she went up to oxford to visit him and became pregnant. She Read his diary and Found out He was Seeing another woman. She left oxford and went back to her village and mary frank. They were very.
Happy and you were in each other but Tragedy struck when When bobby died. Marriage start to fall apart. The book really took off at this point. When Jimmy Killed chin b r I e l dog. That fell in love with him again.And things got really crazy especially when jimmy married Woman has he showed up at the wedding. Chimney had a drinking problem and it was very evident for me.He would get really upset. Everybody had stories to tell about this family. Because try to be seen to follow The tragedies of this family.. Things got really bad when they found out Beth was seeing him again. This is when the trial takes place. It.
Has very important part of ending In the story you love it.

Officially 4.5 stars. What an unputdownable read! Part family drama, part literary fiction, and part mystery, this book packs an emotional punch throughout its 320 pages. This one got off to a rough start for me at first, as it begins with the death of a dog (huge issue for me in books, and no, this is not a spoiler). For those wondering, the death is right at the beginning (page 13 in the Book of the Month edition) and it's definitely a page you can skip right over and keep going without missing anything. Though it's the catalyst for the story, it's not something that's drawn out, and it's rarely mentioned again in the book. The character development in this book is SO well done--some characters are more likable than others but they all felt very real.
The events in the last part of the book literally had me on the edge of my seat and gasping out loud. There's a reason this book is getting a lot of hype, and it's definitely a book I recommend!

Gosh this one was good. A story of first love and true love, a story with heartbreak and redemption. A trial for murder mixed in along the way. Full of heart and emotion, this one was awesome!

Clare Leslie Hall tells the age-old story of the privileged son of a landowner and a young girl of a different class who fall in love over an idyllic summer, only to be separated when the young man goes away to Oxford. As in all love stories of this sort, the summer’s love is not enduring.

Beth marries a farmer from the community who has always loved her and she is contented in her life as a farmer’s wife. Until tragedy strikes. As this couple try to reinvent their lives, the privileged son returns with his own son. His presence in the village effects everyone in the story.

Hall has written a beautifully nostalgic novel about love in all its forms, losses, and death. An underlying theme is the importance of communication in all our relationships. Her characters are so real that they seem to walk and breathe—and hurt. Anyone with a heart will be drawn into this story.

My thanks to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster and Clare Leslie Hall for an advanced copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

I have never read anything by this author before, and it is a genre I seldom read. So when I tell you I gave this love story a 4-star rating, that should tell you something. It all started back in the mid 50ties, when Gabriel and Beth discovered a love that would last decades, although things went very wrong not too far into it and they separated. Beth married a farmer, and was happy with him until a great tragedy occurred in the marriage. Three years later, she is surprised to see Gabriel has come back, divorced with a son. As you may guess, although it is now 1968, the attraction is as strong as ever and she has an affair. Another tragedy hits, there is a trial and you will have to read the book to see how it comes out. It is written in five parts, and kept me reading. I did see the twist in the book coming, but it did not matter. And I cried at the end.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is my favorite book of the year. I cannot think of another novel that has hit me like this one. I've recommended and purchased it for several friends and family since reading it.

Broken Country is a genre bender. It's part historical fiction, part mystery, part love triangle. It's character driven but with the suspense of a mystery. The characters are all fully developed and you feel for them. The story reminded me of Sweet Home Alabama in regards to the love triangle aspect: you love both men equally and could envision the main character with either of them.

The story starts out with an excellent quote worthy of binge reading: "The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him."

Beth is our main character and she is married to Frank. One day, a dog comes after one of their sheep on the farm and the event causes a domino effect on the character's lives. You see, the dog is owned by Beth's ex boyfriend's son. The ex boyfriend that broke her heart.

I do not want to give too much away, but this story has such depth to it. The story has resulted in me still thinking about the twists and turns that take place and the empathy the reader has towards the main characters and the decision they have made.

This is a page turner and full five stars from this reader.

This book is sure to be on a lot of 2025 favorites. A love story, a thriller, family drama... Broken Country has it all! This debut will have me looking for more books by Clare Leslie Hall.

Broken Country is a breathtaking, heartbreaking mystery, told through alternating timelines that I am so glad I read. I knew it would break my heart going in, but I failed to anticipate just how many ways it would hurt by the end, and I was truly surprised when it was all said and done. More than once, I was shocked at what happened - I simply didn't see it coming - and I love being surprised. It is well-written and full of flawed, perfectly human characters, full of life, love, anger, and every nuanced emotion in between. I think I'll come back to this one again, when I've had some time to recover.

Clare Leslie Hall's BROKEN COUNTRY intrigued me from the very moment I saw the beautiful cover and read the cover flaps. Then I started reading and my intrigue became delight with a well-told story with complicated and believeable characters doing their best and mucking through mistakes and misunderstandings, ultimately delivering deep satisfaction and a tired reader who stayed up way too late reading. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

4.0. A good and engaging story until the end. However, I felt the ending was a bit too contrived and unrealistic.

Some books feel like memories you didn’t know you had—quietly devastating, beautifully written, and full of emotional weight. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is exactly that kind of book.

Set in 1960s rural England, the story follows Beth, a woman still grieving the loss of her young son while trying to hold her life—and marriage—together. But everything shifts when her first love, Gabriel, returns to the village after years away… and with him, his young son, who looks hauntingly like the child Beth lost. From there, the past and present start to blur, and nothing feels safe or certain anymore.

There’s a slow-burn tension throughout the book, not just from the rekindled feelings between Beth and Gabriel, but also from the threads of a murder trial that quietly build in the background. You don’t realize just how much is unravelling until it all comes together—and when it does, it hits hard.

Hall’s writing is so evocative—filled with longing, grief, and moments of startling clarity. It’s not just a love triangle or a mystery—it’s a portrait of a woman trying to make sense of a life that’s shifted beneath her feet.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novel opens with a bang-- a farmer shoots a dog that comes onto his property and is going after his sheep. The dog's owner and farmer's family have a shaky relationship that goes back years. I am pretty conflicted on this review-- there was so much I loved about this story, but really disliked the ending. What worked for me is the different timelines, the character of Beth, the nature/countryside/farm writing and Hall did an excellent job of portraying first love. I was very invested in the story until about 80%, when it fell apart for me. Prior to this point I had thought, "thank goodness she didn't make Beth's child be Gabriel's" and boom sure enough he is. I didn't care for either of the farmer brothers and the entire ending was a melodramatic cliché. I also did not like that either child is cared for properly during pivotal scenes-- really you aren't going to check where the kid is before knocking down a tree? or make sure kid is safe and with an adult when there's a volatile guy with a gun around? Also just personal preference but I wanted her to pursue a writing career and maybe end up with neither guy lol. I am an outlier as most people I know adored this book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy. 3.5/5 stars.

I received the ARC of Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall courtesy of Simon & Schuster and Netgalley. Set in the English countryside in the 1960's, this absolutely compelling story encompasses love of nature and sheep farming, references to many books, class distinctions, and family dynamics. Above all a love story, with the passion of first love and finally the understanding of a mature relationship, miscommunication and choices drive the narrative, along with an underlying mystery. I could not stop reading!

I had seen a lot of early reviews for this one and therefore I went in expecting something powerful, but I wasn’t prepared for how deeply I’d feel every moment—every ache, every longing, every impossible choice. I started the journey with these characters, holding myself back a bit because I don't typically enjoy books that have infidelity where children are impacted unless I can get behind the need to break up a family. I saw some very solid foundations in the early parts of this story that caused me to detatch from the characters in anticipation of those exact plot points I was worried may be woven into these pages. But instead of putting the book down, I decided to trust the process of being vulnerable and allow for the flawed characters to be real. Im so glad I did because the characters were blatantly raw and so real that I caught myself completely tangled in their heartbreaks and growth. The writing is powerful in that it cuts right to the bones in an almost painful way at times and it isn’t flashy at all. In fact, you can smell the dirt & whiskey, and the prose digs in deep, not letting you hide from the emotions. This was 100% worth the hype from cover to cover If you're looking for a story that feels like it's made of flesh and bone, pick this one up - you won't be disappointed.

What an emotional journey! I loved the dual timelines and the story unfolding. Devoured it in one sitting.
Thank you Simon & Schuster for the ARC and Simon Audio for the ALC.

Broken Country is a beautiful, intense story about love, tragedy, and how we adapt to our circumstances. I thought this story was wonderfully written, and the author did a great job making the setting and characters come alive. While I did not agree with some of the characters’ actions, and I thought some deserved far more than what they were given, ultimately these flaws made them feel human.

Broken Country is very binge-able, and I would recommend if you’re looking for something that is fast paced, but still with a good amount of depth/emotion.

Wow! A romantic thriller! This book was so spot on with making you feel heartbroken, torn, and on the edge of your seat. I throughly enjoyed this and recommend. The plot twist at the end, i kinda saw it coming but it still gut punched me.