REVIEW: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

OUR REVIEW: 

I saw Broken Country on a few 'best of' lists which intrigued me, but really it's that first line that got me. Set in a rural part of England, this novel follows the story of Beth, Frank, and Gabriel and how they were tangled up in one person's death. You know from the start that *someone* is murdered but who and why and by whom is only revealed in the last section of the novel. Leading up to that reveal, we get to know Beth and her family and how she got involved with both Frank and Gabriel and how it all ended so tragically. Without spoiling it, I'll say that while I understood why Beth made some of the choices she made, and I wanted to dislike her for it, I couldn't really hate her. I guess I'd call my reaction a disappointment, especially because I found Frank to be so wonderful.

Good read, though slow at times, I was ultimately glad I read it. 

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SYNOPSIS: 

“The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.”

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.