Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

“The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.  Was it an accident or was it murder?”

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

March 2025; Simon & Schuster; 978-1668078181
audio, ebook, print (320 pages); women's fiction

This US debut novel is a beautifully written story with characters that readers won't soon forget.  This is a story full of love and forgiveness,  grief, anger, and hope for the future.  One of the characters made a mistake by trying to re-live her younger years without worrying about the recriminations that it would cause in the present.

The story is told in two timelines- 1955 and 1968.  Both timelines meld together very well to tell the story.

1955  We learn all about young Beth's affair with Gabriel.  Beth is a young country girl looking for a romance as wonderful as the poetry she loves.  Gabriel is rich and when he isn't in school, he lives with his parents in their large estate home.  When they meet, Beth is sure that Gabriel is the man who will fulfill all of her romantic yearnings and they spend a lot of time together during that summer.  Often a deep romance can't stay the same as life gets in the way and when he goes back to college, their plans begin to crumble.

1968 - Thirteen years later, Beth is married to Frank.  He is a gentle farmer who values Beth and their marriage despite a catastrophic event that took place several years earlier.  When Gabriel and his young son, Leo, suddenly move back to the family home, Beth finds herself torn between the past and the present.  As she begins to spend more time with Leo, her feelings for Gabe begin to resurface.  How will Beth handle her memories of her past happiness with her present-day love for her husband?

This is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggle between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.

I loved this novel.  The characters were wonderfully written and realistic.  I especially liked Frank who was quiet and loved his wife.  My feelings for Beth vacillated between like and dislike as she faced the changes in her life.  This is a beautiful slow-moving love story - a triangle between 3 people who all have to decide if their past happiness is stronger than the lives they are leading now.

 

Buy Broken Country at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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