The only thing I am still trying to sort is why this very good has the title it has. Broken families would be more accurate! It is an intriguing read starting off with a story line that is not very unusual. A teenage boy from a posh family falls in love with a local farmer’s daughter. Despite his mother’s disapproval it looks as if they will be going off to Oxford universities together. Then other love interests intervene to upset what seems certain. As the book progresses, that apparently simple storyline becomes more and more complicated when they meet up again. In the interval, Beth has married a local farmer Frank, had a son who has been lost in a farming accident and seems to be settled. As the story moves on it is full of surprises which are sure to keep the reader enthralled.. it is a very rewarding read! I recommend it.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is a book that is going to stick with me, from the characters to the writing there was so much I loved about the book that I can even forgive it for breaking my heart. I have seen some people describe this as a love story but I warn you now this is not a book for those who love a happily ever after, yes there is joy and hope but only after a lot of tragedy so be prepared for this book to take you on an emotional journey.
Gabriel and Beth first met when they were teens and Gabriel and his wealthy family moved to her rural village and before long they were head over heels in love but when Gabriel left for university the gap between them grew and eventually they broke up. A decade passes before Gabriel, now a successful author, returns to the village with his young son in tow following a divorce. Beth has also moved on and married local man Frank who helped her pick up the pieces of her broken heart, but their life has not been without tragedy, their young son was killed in a farming accident leaving them both broken hearted. Their marriage is struggling and the return of Gabriel could be the final nail in the coffin as Beth finds herself increasingly drawn to her first love and getting dangerously close to his son. A second chance at first love could cost her everything because in a tragic turn of events her husband ends up in court facing a murder charge.
This book was nothing short of amazing, the characters sprang to life from the page and I found myself captivated by the choices they made, the reasons they gave and the consequences they faced. If you love a character driven story with a really strong sense of place this is just the sort of book you need to be reading. The storytelling was masterful, the compulsion to keep reading was impossible to resist and I ended up devouring this book in less than twenty four hours. The depiction of complex emotions like grief can be hard to do without it becoming melodramatic but here the sense of loss experienced by the characters was almost tangible, anyone who has lost a loved one will find much that resonates here.
This is already a contender for my book of the year.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I tried to start this one a number of times. I got about 20% in and gave up each time.. I know people loved it but there was something about it that just didnt work for me. I didnt particularly love the chracters and I didnt really like the setting… this one just wasn’t for me. I keep thinking I will go back but I know I wont.

For fairness I will be giving this a neutral rating but please read other reviewers as this one is quite popular I am just an outlier and I just really didnt like it.

Thank you for an advanced copy .

Quite frankly the best book I've ever read. That's it. That's the review.

Seriously though, was their anything remarkable about the plot? Not particularly, but the way it's written? Exquisite. How visceral it felt. The characters. Frank. Oh Frank. My heart. I just adored everything about this book.

Broken Country
By Claire Leslie Hall

This is the closest to a perfect book as I have come across in ages. It's one of those stories that picks you up, carries you away and then leaves you feeling forlorn and deserted, unable to move on. It has thrown me into the worst book hangover I have had in years.

How did this author capture me so completely? With an average of 300 books a year I thought I was immune to this.

Set in the rural West counties, it opens with a shooting, a farmer kills a dog who is bothering his sheep, but it soon transpires that another death has occurred, but we don't know who died yet, or who killed them, let alone why.

What follows is a carefully structured narrative, with split timelines, first love, a trial, a tested marriage, a love triangle, a dead child, a volatile alcohol, a second chance romance.

Everything shifts from allusion to revelation over the course of the story. There are cliff hanger chapter endings, there are reveals and twists, a decent pace, however this is not a murder mystery. I mean it is, but it is so much more than that. I have seen it compared to Where The Crawdads Sing, and actually there are many elements to this story that remind me of that particular reading experience, especially insofar as the murder is not the central part of the narrative, raw human emotions are the central part, lost love, grief, the pain of betrayal, class differences, being at one with nature.

It's only February, but still, I will be shocked if this isn't my favourite book of 2025. This book has something for everyone whether plot or character are your thing, but please note trigger warnings, the most pressing might, like for me, be your inability to find any book that could possibly hold your attention after this.

Riveting from start to finish.

Publication date: 4th March 2025
Thanks to ##Netgalley and #JohnMurrayPress for providing an ARC fit review purposes.

Omg this is one of the most beautifully written, emotionally charged books I’ve ever read. I just completely fell into it and became enveloped in its characters lives that wrapped around me like a weighted blanket-keeping me grounded but obsessed by this tale of love and loss. I’ve been a fan of this author as Claire Empson so knew her ability to weave an emotional connection throughout her storyline but this is brilliance on a different scale.
Absolutely incredible book that will stay with me for a very long time.

Broken country is the story of three people who were tied together by love and divided by circumstance. Their families lived close together but we're poles apart socially. Which mattered in the mid 20th century. The characters in this book are beautifully written espe.cially the main ones. They seem so real as does the countryside they live in. The descriptions of the wildlife are truly beautiful. The triple timeline narrative works well to progress the tension of the story. Revealing the twists bit by bit as the story builds which I really enjoyed. The ending was inspired! I'm not going to say more as I don't want to spoil it but yes I cried. A really beautifully written book that I happily recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed Broken Country and can definitely see why it is getting so much love! This literary thriller sucked me in from page one and kept me hooked right up to the end - which gave me a good little cry 😭

The book moves back and forth between time periods as the tale unfolds, balancing the love story and ‘whodunnit’ elements beautifully so that you are kept guessing while becoming more emotionally invested in the characters.

The themes of first love, grief, betrayal and family bonds make for such an emotionally engaging read. The characters were beautifully written and in a story where it could have been easy to dislike many of them, I found I couldn’t (apart from Gabriel’s awful mother of course - her brief moments jumped off the page with manipulative spite!).

I won’t say more for fear of giving anything away! But if you enjoy literary thrillers with a heartfelt love story, get it on your tbr!

I'm at a loss for words. I loved this book so much that I don't think I can find the right words to express how amazing it is! This book swept me off my feet, shattered my heart and put it back together again. I want to read it again for the first time. I thought it was incredibly well written with well developed realistic characters. In fact, some of the characters will stay with me for a long time. Bobby being one. It's such a beautifully crafted story. I've no doubt it's going to be a best seller. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to read and review this book before publication. It deserves a million stars and more.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall, what a fabulous tale of forbidden love, complex family dramas, and a murder trial set in the English countryside? Set across dual timelines, the story weaves smoothly. Well written and had me sobbing. Always worth five stars if it sets me off crying.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC, really appreciated.

Recommend.

Wow. This book has it all. Compelling reading combining mystery and romance set in a rural landscape. Love, betrayal, loyalty , guilt and sadness in a cast of flawed characters that will leave you with a tear in your eye

After a slow start, I enjoyed this book, and it made a long train journey go quickly.
The opening chapters are in a courtroom, somebody is on trial for murder, but we don't learn who and how until later in the book.
Beth, Frank and Gabriel grew up in a village in North Dorset. Gabriel was Beth's first love, but she married Frank, a local farmer, and has a happy life until Gabriel comes back and they find the attraction is still there.
The book is written in two separate timelines, from the 1950's when Beth and Gabriel first get together, then in the late 1960's when Gabriel returns and the events leading to the court case.
There are some lovely scenes in the book, particularly those set in the farm in happy times, and the introduction of Nina to the family. I loved Nina, she is her own person and has strong principles.
Recommended.

Broken Country is up there with my favourite books of 2025 and it's only February. The story begins with a murder trial although we do not know who is on trial. That forms a major part towards the end of the book. But the main thrust of Broken Country is a love triangle, beautifully portrayed with exquisite prose. The characterisation is spot on and I felt for the three people entangled in this love story.

We are led through the history of married couple Frank and Beth and the third person in their triangle, Gabriel, via flashbacks to when all three were teenagers and Beth and Gabriel, the scion of a local wealthy family, fell in love. But, like many a teenage romance, interference and miscommunication at a time when mobile phones were not the norm, Beth and Gabriel break up and she marries faithful Frank. Tragedy strikes when their young son Ben dies in an accident. Beth is still mourning her loss when Gabriel appears on the scene again and they begin an affair which, when discovered by their small farming community, causes a scandal that leads to an untimely death.

There are plenty of twists along the way, all plausible. Broken Country is a compelling book that I shall return to simply for the beautiful writing.
Very much recommended. Thanks to NetGalley and John Murray Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I can't remember the last time I read a novel as good as this one. I was totally hooked from the very first page to the last - and didn't want it to ever end.
The author writes such evocative phrases, creating an emotional rollercoaster which is passionate and poignant and full of characters I absolutely adore. Beth, Gabriel, Frank, Jimmy and Nina, I don't think I will ever forget any of you.
The sense of realism throughout adds an extra layer of authentic texture to a plot full of love and tragedy and unexpected twists and turns.
Five stars doesn't begin to do justice to the extraordinary qualities of this novel: Read it!

It is thanks to Bex (@BexBookaholic on Twitter) that this book came to my attention. I was in a reading slump and just couldn't focus on a book for very long and hoped this would bring me out of my slump.

And boy did it! I started it at about 8pm on Wednesday night, read until 11pm, picked it back up at about 8am on the Thursday and had finished it by 9am. I've said in previous reviews how much I love my bed and so it takes a good book to distract me from it. I usually have the intention to read in bed but I just end up falling asleep. But this one...it was like sleep had to remove it from my hands itself so reluctant I was to part with it.

We have multiple time periods with different characters (although always narrated by Beth), which I thought would be confusing but it really worked. We have the present day, the not-so-distant past, and their teenage years and it was just the best way to tell this story.

Our main character is Beth, and then we have her husband Frank, his brother Jimmy, and of course, her old love Gabriel. They are all so wonderfully created, with so much depth. None of them are heroes and none of them are villains, they all have light and dark in them which made for fantastic reading. You really are on everyone's sides all at once. You want everything to work out between them, you want everyone to be happy and get the life they deserve.

It really whacks you right in the face almost instantly and I knew it was going t o be a hard-going read emotionally; I could just see it was going to break my heart.

At its hard it is a love story - old love, new love, love for family, love for friends, parental love, lost love - but it has the excitement and rush of a thriller, which was an interesting thing to read, but really powerful.

It's not the easiest of books to read. It's complex and contains a lot of difficult themes, such as death and grief, fear, loss, love affairs, trust and dishonesty - it's hard, but it makes the brighter parts of it shine even more, because without the dark we wouldn't appreciate the light, and I think that is key in this book.

I sobbed at this so much, in so many places. It is such a perfect book I can't even explain why. It's heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measures. I am so grateful for the publisher rto send me an e-copy of it, as there's a real possibility I wouldn't have read it otherwise, and that would have been a tragedy because the writing in this book is unlike any other.

Not only will it be on my "favourite books of 2025" list, it will definitely be going on my "favourite books of all time" list. It's absolutely gorgeous. This is a book that I won't be forgetting any time soon.

3.5~4
“He is waiting for me to look at him and, when I do, he smiles to show me he is fine, the briefest nod of his head.

Say it, Beth. Say it now.

I look at his face again, beautiful to me then and now and always, one final glance between us before everything changes.”

The publisher’s blurb sums up the premise – love triangle, a murder, a trial. The timelines jump around with each section clearly labelled, but the jumps seemed to interrupt the storyline for me. I’m usually fine with them, but it did feel like a tease much of the time.

Married rural couple Beth and Frank live alone on their farm in Hemston, North Dorset. Early in the book, Frank comes home with news.

“ ‘Gabriel Wolfe is back living in Meadowlands,’ Frank says, the name exploding at me over breakfast. ‘Divorced now. Just him and his boy rattling around in that huge place.’

‘Oh.’

It seems to be the only word I have.

‘That’s what I thought,’ Frank says. He gets up from his side of the table and walks round to mine, takes my face in his hands, kisses me. ‘We won’t let that pillock cause us any grief. We’ll have nothing to do with him.’”

Frank and Beth and Gabriel all grew up at the same time in Hemston, but Gabriel’s family was wealthy and he was sent away to school.

In 1955, Beth literally bumped into Gabriel when she was out walking, daydreaming of wild romance after reading Austen and Brontë and not paying attention to where she was. She’d crossed onto Meadowlands, the Wolfe family property.

Gabriel is handsome, charming, smart and smitten with her. She feels likewise. Frank is a bit rougher but wonderful, steadfast and adoring, when she gives him a chance. Gabriel goes up to Oxford, Frank and Beth settle into a contented rural life with a child.

This is a saga that moves back and forth through the years, with romance, passionate love, unspeakable tragedy, much tugging of heartstrings, and some suspension of disbelief eventually required by me at the end.

Very early in the piece (page 21) is this:
The Trial
Old Bailey, London 1969

Nothing could prepare me for the agony of watching the man I love, sitting high up in the dock, flanked by two prison officers, as he awaits his verdict.

A man accused of an unthinkable crime.”

Perhaps the title refers to the country Beth loves being broken by tragedies. The country of her heart certainly feels broken.

I enjoyed the writing, and I know a lot of readers will love this. I admit I kept reading, eager enough to find out what happened, but frustrated with either the pace or the way it was put together – I’m not sure which.

I am sure it will be very popular.

Thanks to #NetGalley and John Murray Press for a review copy of #BrokenCountry

Broken Country is an emotional book about love and grief, as a family is torn apart by an affair which leads to murder. It starts with a dead farmer and a vague description which draws you in, hoping to unravel what has happened.

I expected the trial to be a big part of this but the narrative goes back to what happened before — both in the recent past and years ago — and reads more as melodramatic literary fiction until the last section. It’s heartbreaking in its delivery, delving into the grief and past mistakes that have changed the lives of our characters, leading to this tragic event. I loved how it explored class and gender, showing how prejudice caused Beth’s life to take a different path.

The affair was a bit of a sticking point for me. I didn’t think Beth and Gabriel had much chemistry, and actually found the scenes between Beth and Frank much more heartfelt and romantic. Maybe this was the intention though, because I was almost shouting at the book for Beth to stop making such terrible decisions. The past trauma did make this believable, I just wasn’t a Gabriel fan.

If you’re looking for an emotional read about grief, relationships and family, I definitely recommend picking this up. Thank you so much to John Murray Press and NetGalley for the chance to read this early 😊

*I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

I didn't know what to expect from this book but it was a fantastic read. Whilst the story line is filled with sorrow and a heavy past it is delivered in a way that is not at all gloomy or depressing, rather it is handled with stoicism in a traditional British manner! It is a tale of choices made and possible other lives lived that is woven with fantastic life filled characters and beautiful writing. One that lingers in the mind after the book is long finished.

This is a stunning read. A really well crafted story even though it skips backward and forward through the timeline. It is not hard to pick up the thread and it makes the twists and turns unpredictable. The characterisation is great especially the two leads. The woman is highly intelligent and forthright, yet when she commits an unforgivable sin by falling in love with two men she shows vulnerability, shame, remorse and grief. The male lead is remarkable reminding me of a Gabriel Oak type figure. The book also contrasts attitudes in a traditional rural community with a more modern, promiscuous lifestyle belonging t9 the swinging sixties. While I question aspects of the ending, it does not detract from a book that kept me on the edge of my seat while reading it

There is so much buzz about this historical fiction book amongst reviewers and now I've read it I can say that it is justified. Raw and evocative, the writing just absorbs you and takes you on a bumpy ride of shock, tragedy, grief and hope.
The opening chapter sets the scene of something horrific that has happened and there is now a case in court, the details of which are fed slowly through the subsequent chapters with flashbacks to earlier memories, then forward to the time of the tragic events, then the present day experiences of the trial. It is my opinion that this portrays British rural, farming life really accurately with the brutal beauty of working the land and all the life and death that occurs on it.
I felt more of a connection with Frank than I did to Beth or Gabriel, but this did not detract from the impact of the story, I think if anything this space was necessary to watch the characters grow and to see their flaws and faults because that's imperative for what comes next.
A truly memorable story.