Broken Country is a captivating and immersive read that will appeal to fans of suspenseful literary fiction. It is a story of love, loss, and the consequences of our actions, with a truly satisfying and unexpected conclusion.

There's a lot going on with this one. Shifts in timeline, sort of a mystery, sort of a tragidrama. I lost the thread about halfway through and didn't finish. I can see others liking this one, but it's just not my cup of tea.

This book brought me the tears. Beth is a woman who loves her farmer husband but she has a past also. That past brings back old love and heartbreak. I wondered how much heartbreak one family could endure and still survive. I was definitely turning the pages to find out.

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC to read and review.

What a beautiful and captivating novel. Beth fell in love with Gabriel as a young woman and it was pretty much doomed from the start with their different background & social status. While this was happening, Frank was watching and loving her from afar while taking care of his family's farm. There is SO much to this story and I do not want to ruin it for anyone, but this is a MUST read. I loved it from start to finish and the ending had me crying happy years.

This is an amazing book! The story is captivating and the characters are so memorable, identifiable and likable. These are real people with real world emotions and problems. There is a suspenseful piece as well that isn’t revealed until almost the end of the book. I don’t like to recap the story in my review ( you can get that anywhere). I truly thank NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

The Love Triangle

This is a love story filled to the top with emotions. I don’t think I can even list them all. It is filled with love, young love, enduring love, love of a child, heartbreak, heartache, happiness, sadness, excitement, guilt, regret, forgiveness and so much more.

The romance of Beth and Gabriel, the newness of first love, the laughter, then the breakup and the heartache. The lies told, the misunderstandings.

Then two new beginnings for both Beth with kind and loving Frank the farmer, and Gabriel with the society woman his mother picked. Everything seems to be good until Gabriel returns with his young son.

In the weeks after Gabriel’s return Beth and Gabriel become close and an affair becomes. This will tear both families apart with a young child in the middle and ending with a tragedy that will scar everyone. The ending you will not guess and you will not forget.

There are many twists and turns and as it goes back and forth between past and present. It is done seamlessly and easy to read.

It is a book which will take you through many paths and surround you in conflicting emotions, lies, and misunderstandings.

I received a copy for free to read and have left my review voluntarily and in my own words.

Compelling story of love, betrayal and redemption. Two people from vastly different backgrounds fall in love and through misunderstanding, break apart. Years go by and life happens before they meet again and rekindle their love affair. Unforeseen consequences are disastorous. But in the end, love conquers all…just not the way you may have thought.

This was a good read, filled with lots of emotions. I loved the author writing and the mystery aspect was good.

This was so darn good! A very touching love triangle. How can a woman deeply love two men at the same time? This author tells us how and it’s a tender story that you know won’t end well for all three. The author also portrays a grieving mother well. (I can relate). Really well done. An author to watch!

In Clare Leslie Hall’s BROKEN COUNTRY, a lot seems broken: broken hearts, broken lives, broken promises. In fact, the only thing not broken is the country which Hall lovingly describes in striking detail. Despite the hard work farming entails, the land, whether the family farm or the family estate near North Dorset, the land, not Oxford which figures briefly, is where each character’s true mettle, and true passion, is revealed.

The story is told in fractured timelines, before and now, with a final jump to the future. It is easy to follow though because the story is streamlined and compelling. I enjoyed both strands and doubt Hall would have been able to create the necessary suspense without splitting up the time. It was a small price to pay for the combined passion and mystery this book delivers. I read it compulsively to the end.

The only quibble I had with the book was the main character Beth. I didn’t always like her. I understand we’re not supposed to endorse her decisions throughout but so many times, I would say NO, don’t do it! I never like watching a train wreck and, at times, I wondered if the author pushed the unlikable protagonist too far. But ultimately I decided the book worked. Who isn’t flawed? And she certainly came through her experiences a different person. The book is quite well written and I kept returning to finish it. What else can a reader ask for?

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall 4.5
What a treat to read this story before it is even officially published. Story of family – love – This is the story of Beth who fell in love with Gabriel as a teenager – were inseparable until they entered college – then things seemed to fall apart – as time goes by Beth marries Frank and has a son Bobby whom they both adore. But as things happen they lose him – time goes by and Gabriel returns with his son and then another story starts again. I did not In the least suspect what was going to happen and how this story ended. I believe you will be surprised as well. I believe you will enjoy this story and when it ends will you be as surprised as I at the ending? Enjoy!

Tons of raw emotions throughout this book. The book explores the story of a couple in great detail. Hall's writing is fresh but classic at the same time. I found the story captivating. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book already had one thing going against it with me: Farm life. Farm life 😑 I’m from Iowa; don’t give me that mess!

It’s neither thriller nor romance though there is some mystery trying to keep track of the different timelines.

There was a mystery twist at the end which didn’t add much to the plot. It’s an okay book, certainly competently written.

It just wasn’t for me, sorry.

This was a fantastic read! It was a bit hard to get into at first, but after I acclimatized to the style, I read it voraciously. It was well written and the characters just came to life. I loved that scenes were descriptive but not overly so. Beth was lovely but flawed, I definitely identified with her. Great story and loved it!

I really enjoyed this debut literary mystery/suspense novel! The novel’s multiple timelines create a compelling story of love and class conflicts in the English countryside in the late 1960s. Hall has created characters who will stay with you and a strong sense of place while also building suspense around what has happened to these characters. I look forward to reading more from this debut author.

Thank you to Clare Leslie Hall and Simon & Schuster for the advanced review copy!

A mix of very ordinary and extraordinary events blend together to cause heartache for two families. This book had me sobbing for these characters, all of whom suffered through severe hardships, but managed to persevere and find their joy.

This is a love story, a family saga, and a character driven tale about the lengths one will go to do the right thing. It is superbly written and you’ll find yourself wanting it to go on much longer.

I highly recommend this 5-star read and I will be watching for the next book by this talented author. Thank you, NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the eARC.

Wow! This book is an emotional and beautifully complex masterpiece that captivated me from start to finish. Hall masterfully weaves a narrative filled with unexpected twists, keeping readers on their toes until the very last page. The depth of emotion conveyed throughout the story is profound, leaving me weeping as I journeyed alongside the characters. It’s a rare gem that defies simple description, but suffice it to say, I adored every moment spent in the pages of “Broken Country.” This book is a testament to Hall’s extraordinary ability to craft a story that resonates deeply and lingers long after the final chapter.

This book should certainly win the prize for the most jumps in the time line. Some of the chapters are designated by the year - 1968 or sometime in the '50s. Some of the chapters are designated as "before" or "earlier" or ... well, I just can't remember. There was no continuity in the time setting at all. The plot was completely obliterated by all of these flashbacks and jumps, hither, thither and yon.

Broken Country? It's more about broken hearts: our leading lady is scorned by her first love; her faithful husband has to watch his wife fall back in love with the man who scorned her AND with his son; the son is brokenhearted over the death of his dog. The faithful husband is also broken hearted over the killing of his lambs. And on and on and on. Everybody is broken hearted over something - current, past or to come.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

I could only get through a quarter of the book. The premise had a lot of potential, but the narrator seemed one-dimensional and just plain boring. Her narration read like a cliche, and the back and forth between "before" and "after" and the random times in between served no purpose than to add unnecessary exposition to her rather dull backstory. I would have preferred the narrative to be linear -- start with her meeting of Gabriel and end with the trial. The reviews online are glowing, which made me wonder if I should have stuck with the book for longer, but the writing simply was not it for me.