Wow. This book broke me and then put me back together. The writing is fantastic and the way the storyline is put together works so well. This book makes you feel the feels. I highly recommend everyone read this book.

Tragedy, a love story, loss, deep grief.

A beautifully written story that will move you from hope to heartbreak. A loving family dealing with loss. Then the past coming back. That’s when everything changes.

A must read book.

This book is absolutely amazing ! It is literally 3:18 in the morning. I devoured this book in one sitting. The idea of putting it down without finishing seemed utterly impossible.
This story has everything. - great writing, wonderful characters, love, heartbreak. 10/10

BROKEN COUNTRY opens with a gunshot that changes the course of Beth’s life. When her brother-in-law shoots a dog that’s about to attack the sheep on the family farm, she doesn’t realize that the dog belongs to Gabriel Wolfe, the man who broke her heart as a teenager years before. Although Beth is now happily married to Frank, she immediately becomes close with Gabriel and his young son, who reminds her of her own, who died in a tragic accident. As Beth and Gabriel spend time together, tensions and jealousy resurfaces in the small village where they live—this time, with deadly consequences, leaving Beth to make a devastating choice.

When people ask me about the best book club picks, I always recommend genrebenders, or novels that take cues from multiple genres. BROKEN COUNTRY is now one of the books I’ll be recommending most in this vein. It’s equal parts a tragic love story, a coming of age tale (it’s told in dual timelines, unraveling Beth and Gabriel’s past in conjunction with the present-day timeline), a legal/courtroom thriller, and historical fiction set on the English countryside. It’s character-driven and packed with poetic writing and lush descriptions.

Where this book differs from both other genrebenders and other character-driven lit fic is in the pacing because MAN! It’s absolutely brilliantly done, moving at the pace of a thriller with the depth and emotion of the best literary fiction out there. It’s a sweeping love story packed with thought-provoking details that force you to stop and think about the way you’d react in a tragic situation like the one depicted here. It’s a book best read knowing as little as possible, so don’t do any digging before you get into this one.

One note—I’ve had a few people ask me about the animal cruelty in this book. There’s one scene very early on that’s not super graphic and is used as the catalyst for the drama to begin.

TL;DR: oh man, you’re going to be hearing a LOT about BROKEN COUNTRY in 2025. And with good reason. It is excellent. Clare Leslie Hall’s sweeping historical romance -about a married woman who reconnects with a man from her past in the wake of tragedy- is not generally something I would immediately be drawn to, but I’m so glad I found time to prioritize it, because once I started reading, I could not stop. Not only is this a beautifully-crafted love story, but it’s also a propulsive page-turning mystery, as the book kicks off with a murder trial and readers are immediately invested in putting the puzzle pieces together of how our characters ultimately end up in the courtroom. The book fires on all cylinders: great writing, complex characters, multiple mysteries, and a couple emotional gut-punch twists that took my breath away. Trust the reviews here, this is a BIG crowd-pleaser.

Beth is a happily married farmer’s wife with a tragic past. When a man from her past who broke her heart as a teenager reappears in town, old feelings, secrets, and jealousies resurface. The man’s son reminds Beth so much of her own son who died in a tragic accident a few years before. Beth then makes a series of choices that eventually lead to explosive consequences that cannot be undone. Now, a man is dead and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.

This was such an interesting and complex story with many storylines that kept the story moving and kept me guessing throughout! It is a story of love, loss, and heartbreak delivered in the style of a mystery/thriller. The writing is poetic and stirring. The book does jump back and forth between different timelines of events but still flowed exceptionally well and it was fairly easy to keep the timelines straight. There are multiple masterfully-crafted mysteries to be solved and the answers are slowly revealed throughout, bit by bit. It is initially confusing how everything links together but all is revealed eventually. The pacing is exceptional, as it starts off a bit slow but continues to progress in picking up pace as you keep reading. There are two major twists at the end that I truly was not expecting at all. What a brilliant and unique read! I rated this book 5 stars and would highly recommend it to others! Thank you to NetGalley, Clare Leslie Hall, and Simon & Schuster for the gifted ARC. This is a voluntary and honest review.

Can’t say much that hasn’t already been said… heavy in a way that felt close to real life—messy family ties, grief, and the weight of history all tangled together. The writing didn’t sugarcoat anything, which made the quiet moments of connection hit harder. It left me unsettled, but also really reflective about how people carry their past.

Broken Country was one of those books that after it’s done you still think about it days, even weeks later. For this being a debut novel, this was pretty incredible and by far the best book I’ve read this year! It had so much heart, heartache and yearning, not to mention the writing was wonderful! I love love love this book! I can’t wait to see what they do with it as a movie and can only hope they don’t ruin it.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall. Pub Date: March 4, 2025. Rating: 5 stars. This book is a tour de force and I read it in one day! Atmospheric with secrets, love, heartbreak and family at its core, this story is propulsive and well executed to the point of no return. I found the setting to be ideal in such a way I felt I was actually there with the characters. I don't want to give too much away because it is just that good of a story and one every reader should read! I highly recommend this novel! Thanks to #netgalley and #simon&schuster for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really tried to love this storyline and the setting. I had such high hopes after reading reviews and even in the beginning of the book! It’s one I’ll have to pick up again after I read a few other genres.

"Broken Country" will tug at your heart strings! I couldn't put this one down and felt myself really connected to this story, family and characters. It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster but beautifully written!

This book was a slow one, and it kind of bored me at some parts. I kept reading to find out who was killed, and who the killer was. I was surprised by the outcome. I honestly don’t get the hype of this book because the main character wasn’t very likable. I hated the love triangle so much.

This book was everything I hoped it would be and more. A heartbreaking story, beautifully told. The plot unfolded at the perfect pace, and I felt I really got to know the characters well. Broken Country has earned a spot on my top 10 favorite books of 2025.

This was a very beautiful book but it definitely tugs at your emotions. I was feeling all kinds of emotions the entire time I was reading.

I love a good family drama with secrets and this book was an excellent example. It kept me engaged and wanting more.

This debut deserves to be on every book club reading list. It's a remarkable story of a farmer, his wife, and her first love. And the story of being a parent and then losing a child. And promises made and secrets kept and promises broken. But, we as readers are kept in the dark, for quite a while, about the central events of the characters' lives. We know from the opening pages that someone is on trial for murder -- but Clare Leslie Hall does a masterful job at obscuring the details. Readers must piece together clues as to who has been charged and who has died and so many other essential plot developments. The writing is gorgeous, the plot engrossing and the reveals are shocking. Great book.

I still can’t decide how to feel about this book. Everyone in this book was terrible except for frank. It was extremely hard to root for anyone. The main plot of this book didn’t happen until the last 15% and I was just expecting more.

Broken Country is easily going to be in my top reads of 2025. This reminded me of Where the Crawdads Sing and the Paper Palace in the tone and writing style. I loved the structure of this.

The book starts with Beth and her husband working on their working sheep farm when a dog wanders onto their land and terrorizes the sheep, causing the dog to be shot. It quickly becomes apparent that the owner is Beth's first love and the stories interweave between past and present, culminating in a trial for a murder. Throughout most of the book you don't know who has died or who was responsible and reading as the pieces came together was brilliant. I need to own a copy of this book for my forever shelf.

Trigger warning for child loss and adultery.

moving, disruptive, emotional - I felt all the things reading this. What an accomplishment by this author. I throughly enjoyed this story

CW: graphic death scenes involving animals, children, and adults

Wow, this book was so beautifully written. Even when I was occasionally frustrated and disliked the characters, I couldn’t put it down. There was such a great mystery underlying the novel and it played so well across the two times.

I received a copy of the book from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster in exchange for my honest review.

This book is absolutely amazing. I loved reading this one. Such beautiful detail and layered characters. I loved that even though they were flawed that I found myself empathizing with them and hoping for the best. I couldn’t put it down!