Broken Country (Reese's Book Club)
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4.4 • 231 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Over 1 Million Copies Sold
A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK | A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is an unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives…but it’s also a masterfully crafted mystery that will keep you guessing until the very last page. Seriously, that ending?! I did not see it coming.” —Reese Witherspoon
“Stirring and mysterious…fires directly at the human heart and hits the mark.” —Delia Owens, New York Times bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing
A love triangle unearths dangerous, deadly secrets from the past in this thrilling tale perfect for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.
“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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Told through the prism of an ongoing court case, Broken Country shows both the darkness and the romance of the traditional English village. Beth is a local girl who falls in love with Gabriel, a young man from the nearby stately home. But in 1955, when the book is set, no one really believes that young love can cross the class divide. In some senses, the doubters are proved right and the two split up while Gabriel is at Oxford, leaving Beth to marry the son of a local farmer. But in 1968, a divorced Gabriel comes home with his son.
This is an epic, sweeping story with a cinematic feel. The central love triangle is convincing, and Broken Country delves into the idea of being able to truly love two people at once. The characters are flawed but compelling and the revelations come thick and fast with some very real surprises. This is a hugely enjoyable novel that will make you think about love, beauty and family ties, even as you start to weep.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
English writer Hall serves up twist after twist in her canny U.S. debut, a story of grief, love, and murder set in the Dorset countryside. The year is 1968 and Beth Johnson, wife of gentle sheep farmer Frank, remains shattered by the death of her nine-year-old son, Bobby, in an accident two years earlier. Her first love, Gabriel, a bestselling novelist who grew up wealthy on a nearby estate, returns with his young son, Leo, after separating from his American wife. Beth reconnects with Gabriel, fantasizing about rewinding her life to a simpler time, and she forges a bond with Leo, who reminds her of Bobby. An unreliable narrator, Beth provides a blinkered view of the action, mentioning early on that a farmer has been murdered and someone close to her is on trial for the crime, but neglecting to reveal the identities of these two characters until more than halfway through the narrative. As a result, readers are kept guessing about the precise consequences of Gabriel's return and the circumstances behind Bobby's death. Hall makes Beth a fascinatingly complex lead who vacillates between restlessness and contentment, and the other characters' motivations prove to be different than they seem at first glance. This sharp morality tale will stay with readers.
Customer Reviews
Disappointing
I was so looking forward to reading this book… lunch box letdown.. predictable and boring