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Broken Country

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What to expect

​*****AMAZON'S BOOK OF THE YEAR​​​*****
INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
REESE WITHERSPOON'S BOOK CLUB PICK
FEARNE COTTON'S HAPPY PLACE BOOK CLUB PICK
AMANDA LAMB BOOK CLUB PICK

'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

'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

'Had me hooked from start to finish . . . a really great book' DAWN O'PORTER, author of Cat Lady

'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'

Critics Review

A love story like no other
CHRIS WHITAKER, author of All the Colours of the Dark
Broken Country destroyed me . . . it is set to be the love story of 2025. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Clare Leslie Hall's writing is beautiful, her characters raw and real. The plot is perfectly crafted and the story really is a masterpiece. Sublime.
HEATHER CRITCHLOW
A stone-cold masterpiece - heartbreaking, life-affirming, it's a celebration of love in all its forms. I loved every line - Hall is an astonishing writer
KATE SIMANTS
Beautiful writing you want to gorge on, characters who make your heart ache, an impossible situation. Grief, friendship, and the kind of love that makes you risk it all. All the stars.
LAURA PEARSON
An absolute triumph. This novel has all kinds of love - young love, forbidden love, brotherly love - all wrapped up in the most beautifully evocative descriptions of a pastoral landscape. Mistakes, bad choices and accidents conspire to create a slow-burn mystery with tragedy at its heart, yet there is hope too in this story of splintered loyalties and unbridled passion. Poetic, erotic and compelling, it is quite magnificent
VERONICA HENRY
An addictive story of an affair that reads like a thriller . . . a knotty and exhilarating story of a woman unable to make up her mind between two very appealing options. It's a classic recipe, and Clare Leslie Hall executes it to perfection
Irish Sunday Independent
An absorbing novel about love and the weight of the past, this is a beautifully written read
Image
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 & Home, Book of the Month
This is a love story and a thriller - irresistible. Read it now before it hits your screens
The Gloss
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
Beautiful . . .So moving on the subject of how a tiny decision can have cataclysmic consequences
Good Housekeeping
Excellent . . . a vivid, forceful love story which plays out at the pace of a thriller
Irish Times
Wistful love meets murder . . . a tear-jerker
Grazia
Powerful
Sun
Tragedy, misunderstandings and guilt fuel abundant trysts and twists, but cool-headed meditations on grief and desire prove equally compelling
Mail on Sunday
Startling . . . a vivid, forceful love story that plays out at the pace of a thriller
Irish Times
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
My favourite book of the year . . . Beautifully written and has a wonderful twist I didn't see coming!
ALICE FEENEY, author of My Husband's Wife

User Reviews

Book 4.7
Narration 5.0
Author Clare Leslie Hall
Narrator Hattie Morahan
Duration 8 hours and 57 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781399820455
Format x-book®
Publisher John Murray Press
Genre Crime and mystery fiction, Historical fiction, Historical romance, Rural communities
Collections Book Club Fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE
Rating
4.7 (3 reviews)
Narration
5.0 (3 reviews)

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