Broken Country
THE MOST ADDICTIVE LOVE STORY OF THE YEAR - THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES & NYT BESTSELLER
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4.6 • 50 Ratings
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
REESE WITHERSPOON'S BOOK CLUB PICK
FEARNE COTTON'S HAPPY PLACE BOOK CLUB PICK
'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
'This story of a love affair is so addictive it could be at home with the thrillers . . . A simmering book of secrets, scandal and devastating consequences' The i
'Excellent . . . a vivid, forceful love story which plays out at the pace of a thriller' Irish Times
'In this surprising romantic novel, there are decisions to be made that are heartbreaking and real, yet amid the gentle pastoral setting . . . it has all the pace of a literary thriller. A dazzling debut' Woman and Home
'Beautiful . . .So moving on the subject of how a tiny decision can have cataclysmic consequences' Good Housekeeping
'Wistful love meets murder . . . a tear-jerker' Grazia
Everyone in the village said nothing good would come of Gabriel's return. And as Beth looks at the man she loves on trial for murder, she can't help thinking they were right.
Beth was seventeen when she first met Gabriel. Over that heady, intense summer, he made her think and feel and see differently. She thought it was the start of her great love story. When Gabriel left to become the person his mother expected him to be, she was broken.
It was Frank who picked up the pieces and together they built a home very different from the one she'd imagined with Gabriel. Watching her husband and son, she remembered feeling so sure that, after everything, this was the life she was supposed to be leading.
But when Gabriel comes back, all Beth's certainty about who she is and what she wants crumbles. Even after ten years, their connection is instant. She knows it's wrong and she knows people could get hurt. But how can she resist a second chance at first love?
A love story with the pulse of a thriller, Broken Country is a heart-pounding novel of impossible choices and devastating consequences.
'Lyrical, brutal and passionate. I devoured it'
MIRANDA COWLEY HELLER, author of The Paper Palace
'Evocative, sensitive and compelling . . . Fires directly at the heart and hits the mark'
DELIA OWENS, author of Where the Crawdads Sing
'Broke my heart then mended it again. An epic, tortured love story. Bring tissues'
JENNIE GODFREY, author of The List of Suspicious Things
'I stayed up until 4am to finish it, something I haven't done in years. It's a page-turner, but also beautifully written'
FLORENCE KNAPP, author of The Names
'A love story like no other'
CHRIS WHITAKER, author of All the Colours of the Dark
READERS LOVE BROKEN COUNTRY ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'This book is everything. Love, heartbreak and hope'
'Will break you into pieces and then put you back together again'
'I was absolutely gripped and didn't want it to end'
'If I could give more than five stars, I would. Perfect'
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.
