4.5 stars! I’d read similar to a Jodi Picoult novel (and that’s a compliment). Starts slow and builds into a good suspense and some fun twists and crescendo of emotions. Loved reading this book

Review: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Haunting and beautifully written, Broken Country explores grief, survival, and human resilience with lyrical prose and vivid storytelling. The characters are complex and deeply compelling, making their journey feel raw and real. While some parts felt a bit drawn out, the emotional depth and atmosphere kept me engaged. A poignant, thought-provoking read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book!

Wow! Every once in a while you come upon a story that stays with you for awhile. This one will do just that. It is my first book by this author and I hope there will be many more. Clare’s writing is submersive. I felt like I was right along side of Beth throughout the book. This book literally unfolds before your eyes. The characters are so incredibly fleshed out and entirely relatable. I found myself screaming at them at times. There are loads and loads of side stories.

The focus of the book is mostly about Beth and her life. We hear all about her adventures from a young teen until the present day. Beth is a teenager in love with a neighbor boy. Beth is a farmer’s wife, she works hard and enjoys her life as it is. It includes everything in between. We feel her emotions right alongside her.

I highly recommend this book, it will give you all the feels. There are some definite trigger warnings, so be sure to check them out.

Wow Wow Wow!! This book is incredible. I was hooked from the very first chapter to the last page. I immediately told my husband we were going to the movie when they make one, because this will also make an incredible movie.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

On a rainy, dreary Saturday morning I sat down to start reading this book and I couldn't stop reading it. I finished it that day! When Beth's first love comes back into her life in an unexpected way, the secrets from the past collide with her new life as a farmer's wife. Can a women be in love with two men at the same time? When there is a suspicious death, the reader is left to try and figure out who has died as the story is told in flashbacks. Broken Country is emotional but also hopeful with a sweeping love triangle, twists,compelling characters and a mystery. I loved it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advanced reading copy.

Alternating between dual timelines, Beth is experiencing and recalling her first love. Meanwhile, elements of a murder mystery indicate that this isn’t only a love story. The narrative contains moments of heartbreak but remains engaging. At times, Beth’s actions appear to lack conscience, especially when those around her are affected.
The book features family relationships and loyalty. Beth’s parents are portrayed as loving and admirable, and David is depicted as a special father-in-law, though his presence diminishes later in the novel.
Broken Country explores various themes, including the idea that life is not a linear track, and individuals may make different choices while respecting and supporting each other.

" The farmer is dead." With that as an opening statement, I was hooked. I found this to be an easy and interesting read. Finished it in two days as I had to find out who was dead and who was the murderer. This story takes place in the late 1960's in a small English countryside farm and town. The network of characters is relatively small. The reader gets to know them all, especially Beth who is central to the love triangle and murder. There is love, murder and twists that you don't see coming. You will cry and laugh at this heartwarming story of first loves and the reality of life. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity of reading an advanced copy. I highly recommend this book.

Broken Country was so beautiful yet tragic. The classic forbidden love intertwined with a deep deeep love story.

When I first finished the book, I was sliiiightly upset because adultery gets me every time (I can't help it if I'm lowkey judgy ok!) BUT after I sat with it, it def feels like all the characters got what they deserved.

Highly recommend - fast paced and engaging throughout! :)

Reese is no Oprah. I do not always find her picks to my liking. This book, however, was very readable. It’s a story of missed opportunity and loss. If you’re looking for a feel good book, this isn’t it. Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I want to start off by saying this book just wasn't for me. I'm not really a fan of cheating in books so my review will reflect that.

I went into Broken Country for the mystery element of the story. For me all of the mystery aspects fell flat. I knew exactly what twists were coming even the big reveal at the end I saw coming from the very beginning.

One of the other problems I had with the story is how Beth faces no consequences for her actions. She is an absolute villain to those she loves. Poor Frank is willing to do anything to protect her and she cheats on him with very little thought about his feelings. That probably because Frank just rolls over and lets her walk all over him. He even states that he wasn't jealous of her relationship with Gabriel. What man wouldn't be jealous of his wife having an affair with another man. I don't want to spoil anything but there are other grievances I have with Frank.

I feel like the ending was very rushed. Like once the trial happened everyone dropped whatever was going on in their life to support Beth and the mess she created. Even her parents gave up their Ireland dream to help Beth run the farm. Everyone just instantly forgave Beth and supported her even though she is the main cause of everything that happened.

The one thing that I thought was done well was the dual timelines. I liked the switch between Before, The late 1960, and the Trial. It was really well done and if one of the reasons I didn't DNF.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This was such a page-turner... I loved going back and forth between the timelines, and that doesn't always work for me! While I did put together some of the pieces before the end, it kept me guessing. The characters felt fully developed and relatable, with their many tough and heartbreaking choices along the ways. As a parent, this REALLY got me. The only thing I didn't love, which kept me from 5 stars, was that everything was a bit too neatly tied together at the end--I don't always love the "X years from now, everything has worked out!" perspective.

All you need to know about my thoughts on Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is that I cried. This is high praise, because I rarely weep when I read books these days., If I do cry, the book is almost definitely getting a 5 star review from me, and that's exactly what Broken Country gets - 5 shiny stars,

I loved the setting, the characters and the story. Hall blends all of my favorite genres masterfully, giving us a complex family drama, a love story, and a crime/legal mystery, all set in England during the 1950s - 1970s.

The hype is real. I will recommend Broken Country to almost everyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Schuster for the ARC of Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall in exchange for my honest review.

I don’t read many books twice, but BROKEN COUNTRY is one I will. And that surprises me. While reading it, I wondered how Claire Leslie Hall could end this book in any possible way that could be satisfying. There were pieces of the story that troubled me deeply. But, as a friend recently described, this novel may or may not be a 5-star book, but for me, it was a 5-star reading experience. I don’t want to say too much, but I will say Ms. Hall knows how to write emotion. This love story told through a mystery would be a perfect book club pick because there is so much to talk about here.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster, NetGalley, and author Claire Leslie Hall for the complimentary copy. It was my pleasure to write this candid review.

Broken Country is a magnificent novel. Love, lust, loyalty and tragedy explode in a story that begins with a dog’s death, shot after three new ewes are eviscerated. That event brings Gabriel Wolfe and his young son Leo, the dog’s owner, to the Blakely Farm and will set events in place that will lead to disaster.

The novel, written by the incredibly gifted Clare Leslie Hall takes country life in a small village with its simple conflicts and gossip to a passionate drama that aches below the surface. There are no spoilers here. Readers need to experience the pull of Broken Country. It is a modern classic and a masterclass In pacing, plot development and characterization. Frank, Gabriel, Nina and Beth pull at your heart. I can’t even talk about Bobby. Broken Country will stay with you long after you finish the final page. I would give it a thousand sparkling stars if I could. 5 is not enough.

This was a beautifully written story told in multiple time lines, but very easy to follow. A character driven book.

Basically a love story, a woman torn between two lovers, a mystery & a couple of turns I did not see.

I don't feel my review can do justice for this book. It isn't a fast paced novel, but it grabs you in, you get a feel for who Beth is, & the 2 main men in her life. There's sadness, some secrets & devotion & love, but at a cost.

3.25, I think. This started out really strong for me, but faltered under the overwrought prose and the 10000 plot twists that were both over the top & predictable. Clearly I’m in the minority on this one, but it just was not a favorite. In the pros column, the plot was definitely propulsive & the cliff-hanger chapter endings kept me turning pages (until it got a bit old).

This is a deep drama and wonderful story. Beth is happily married, but her life turns on a dime when a dog is shot & killed. This stirs up all kinds of things in the marriage & village where they live. This story jumps between the past & present and is a book that will draw you in.

This is a beautiful love story with so much depth, emotion, and mystery. Teenage lovers are reunited as adults in their small farming town. It seems as if neither has fully recovered from their breakup years earlier and now she’s even more broken following the death of her son. Their love triangle is fierce and might even lead to murder.

I loved the multiple timelines, especially the court scenes where the reader doesn’t have all of the information but bits are revealed adding to the tension of those scenes.

These pages are filled with secrets, huge mistakes, and very human reactions. I can see this book being loved by many - I devoured it.

This book, set in the English countryside in the 50s and 60s begins by setting up a mystery - someone is dead, and there’s going to be a trial. But for most of the book we don’t know who is dead or who is on trail. The book then proceeds in three alternating time frames, all told from the point of view of Beth. In the early time frame, she’s a teenager from town who falls for rich kid Gabriel who is there for the summer. In 1968, Beth is married to Frank and still mourning the death of her son a few years before, when Gabriel and his son come back to town. And a year or so later, we see bits of the murder trial.

This book is getting a lot of hype - and it deserves it! There’s so much going on - mystery, romance, family drama - and all so beautifully written. The revelations are layered so beautifully through the book, the characters are interesting, the nature descriptions make you feel like you can see it all. A sad book which had me in tears but truly a great one. Also I can see why Reese’s Book Club picked it because there’s so much to discuss.

4.5 stars

Thank you so much BookSparks #partner for gifting me the book and including me in the Winter Reading Challenge! Thank you also for the super cute beaded charm bookmark!

Thank you so much Simon Audio #partner for the audiobook via Libro.fm! 100% recommend the amazing narration by Hattie Morahan!
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Broken Country is a story layered with a lot of tough themes on grief, family bonds, love triangle, inequality and simple miscommunications and actions that alter a chain of lifelong events.

The story effortlessly weaves in character development along with a murder mystery plot that keeps the reader intrigued as to who’s on trial and who’s murdered for a good chunk of the book.

There aren’t too many characters to keep up with and every character is etched out perfectly in their own imperfect ways. However Beth singlehandedly holds the torch to the entire story and you’ll either sympathize with her or strongly oppose her for her actions but you also can’t help but feel her grief that becomes very palpable through every page. I’m keeping my review purposefully vague because this is a story you will enjoy best going in blind.

I will share one content warning: it deals with death of a child, in case it’s a trigger to you.

Reading this book felt like walking in a beautiful English countryside, especially thanks to Hattie’s soothing narration. Broken Country makes for an excellent book club / buddy read book given all the thought-provoking actions and character depth. So it’s not surprising Reese’s Book Club selected Broken Country as their March pick. I’m also super excited to hear it’s becoming a motion picture with Sony!
4.5 stars rounded up to 5!