What a sensational novel! Emotive, heartbreaking, raw and devastating.
Beth and her husband Frank are happily married but their happiness relies upon not speaking of the past. When Beth's brother in law shoots a dog straying on their property, none of them could know this would change their lives forever. For the dog belonged to Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth first loved, now returned to the town years later with his son Leo. As Beth is pulled back into his life, tensions rise in the town and the consequences are deadly.

Get your tissues ready friends, as you will need them with this one! The author cleverly wove together the threads from 1955, 1968 and their lives now. I was thoroughly immersed in the imagery in this story, farm life and the characters stories. While the synopsis does provide a lot of detail, there were still plenty of surprises and twists along the way. I could not stop reading and think this may be one of my favourites this year.

The classification for this one on NetGalley was Women's Fiction and it was in part, as there was romance, but it was also part family drama, mystery, historical fiction and suspense in places.

I thought that my reading for 2025 was off to a great start, but after finishing Broken Country, I would have to say that it is off to an absolutely wonderful start!

Whenever I read a book that is as stunning as this one, I often feel as though my review can’t possibly do it justice and convey everything that it made me feel. I knew very early on that this book was going to be a 5-star read, and I wasn’t wrong.

Broken Country was beautiful, passionate, heartbreaking, and tragic. There was never a moment where I wasn’t completely immersed in the characters’ lives. You always know that a love triangle is going to be messy and rife with complications and emotions, but Beth, Gabriel, and Frank’s stories were shrouded in deception, secrets, and longing.

The novel was told from different points in time. This allowed the reader to see how Beth and Gabriel’s love story unfolded. We also get to see Beth’s life in 1968, in which she is happily married to her loving husband Frank, whose lives are filled with hard work and dedication to their family farm, but also the grief from the untimely loss of their dear son. We also know that someone is on trial for murder, however, the whole story needs to unfold before we get any answers about what had actually transpired that tragic evening.

When Gabriel returns to his family’s estate, it brings a rush of feelings back for Beth, and in turn, wreaks havoc on the lives of those she loves the most. I must admit that I felt every emotion right down to my core. This was a visceral, powerful story of family, love, and redemption.

Broken Country was a beautifully written novel that touched my heart immensely. It will definitely be gracing my list of favorite books of 2025. I am looking forward to reading more novels by this talented author.

*5 Stars

It’s been a while since a book captured my attention the way Broken Country did. I was completely drawn in and genuinely sad when it ended. Without a doubt, this is my favourite book of the year, and I’m recommending it to everyone—add it to your list! The story takes you on such an emotional journey, with moments of love, heartbreak, grief, anger, and sadness. You might want to keep some tissues nearby because the ending packs a punch.

The story moves between two timelines: the “Before” of 1955 and the “present” of 1968. There’s also a trial playing an important role, though the full details aren’t revealed until later in the book. Everything flows so smoothly that there’s no confusion, and all the questions are wrapped up perfectly by the end. The short chapters make it easy to keep reading “just one more,” and before you know it, you’ve finished the whole thing.

The characters are so well written that they feel real. Beth, her husband Frank, and Gabriel especially will stay with me for a long time.

What a beautiful, emotional, well developed story. The ending wrecked me. I loved every moment of this- i could not put it down and i didn’t want to!

This was fine but didn't fully take it there for me. I just could not connect to the characters after a while which is a bummer as the first quarter really had me hooked.

I thought there would be more substance to this book . The strong character is Frank who unconditionally loved Beth , Bobby , Leo and his brother Jimmy and sacrificed his happiness for them . The book described his journey to make their lives better. The premise of this book is a familiar one with the woman wanting to have it all with her relationships and life at the expense of hurting others. A book about lost loves, child loss, forgiveness, doing the right thing and finding out that the someone special is that and so much more. A decent read but not over the top for me.

Every once in a while a book comes along that completely draws me in, yet it is hard for me to find the words to review. This is one of those.

The writing is very descriptive. The setting is wonderful……pastoral. Set on a generational farm belonging to a hard-working family.

The storyline consists of two timelines. The “present” is 1966, the past is “Before”, which I would set at about 1954. There are a few extra chapters of a trial happening, a harbinger of tragedy to come. It's all easy to follow.

The theme is an old-fashioned love triangle. The story is full of drama, tragedy, emotion, guilt and even murder. While this makes it sound cheesy, it's not. It's about human beings that get themselves into an incredible mess. There were decisions made that I didn't agree with. But, that's what happens in life. Everything is not black or white. I think the characters are very realistic, but flawed. I could empathize with all of them. Is it possible to love two people at the same time?

And, then, there are the secrets, always the secrets!!!! Every good book seems to have them.

The ending is well done………. It leaves the reader with hope.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

Heartfelt, touching,tragic, so many words to describe this book. It was all those and more, Gives you feeling. Loved how it went from past to present so you understood the back story. Loved everything about this book.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an early release of this book.