Broken Country

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This book is so beautifully written that I crawled my couch-sitting blanketed self into it and pretty much stayed there until story‘s end. There‘s a love triangle pushing the story forward but I wasn‘t caught up in being Team Frank or Team Gabriel. I was just there in this world taking place in the English countryside of 1968-1975. I realize the timeframe, but I would not have classified this as historical fiction. …And that last page 💕💔💕

TheLudicReader I can't wait to read this, but it hasn't shown up in bookstores here yet. 13h

BarbaraBB I just got this today because I read a similar review like yours! 10h

marleed @TheLudicReader @BarbaraBB Every once in a while a book reminds me why I‘m grateful I read fictional stories. If IRL I knew these characters, their love, their tragedies I‘d likely have opinions on what went wrong, where lies the blame. Fiction reminds me I would be wrong for their‘s is not my life to judge. 5h

BarbaraBB You‘re so right. I hadn‘t thought of it that way! 1h

63 likes4 stack adds4 comments

Reecaspieces

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

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📚💙REVIEW IS UP!📚💙

⭐️⭐️BROKEN COUNTRY By Clare Leslie Hall⭐️⭐️

⭐️QUICK THOUGHTS ⭐️

⭐️Emotional⭐️

⭐️Twisted ending!⭐️

https://reecaspieces.com/2025/03/10/a-broken-country-by-clare-leslie-hall-simons...

38 likes1 stack add

Lsmoore43

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

This was such a beautiful story. Told with so much feeling and heartfelt love. Even in the worst parts it‘s beautiful. Perfection in a book is rare but this one truly is perfection.

Full review: https://lsmoore49.blogspot.com/2025/03/broken-country-by-clare-leslie-hall.html?...

@clarelesliehall
@simonbooks

24 likes

TorieStorieS

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

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What an emotional roller coaster of a US debut! I absolutely loved this heart wrenching drama set mostly in the 1960s in a small English village. A love triangle with fatal consequences told in a dual timeline quickly becomes impossible to put down! Beth‘s literary dreams turn into a fulfilling life on a farm until her first love returns home & all of their lives change forever. Some surprises are easy to see but some jaw-dropping ones remain!

AmyG Good to know it‘s a good book! I love surprises. (edited) 4d

TorieStorieS @AmyG I loved this one!! Plus, I‘m glad it‘s a #BOTM add-on for the month! 4d

ShelleyBooksie Based on the synopsis there is harm that comes to an animal - is it revisited a lot in the book? 4d

See All 7 Comments

TorieStorieS @ShelleyBooksie It‘s one brutal scene with death to 4 animals total. It‘s in the beginning & isn‘t really revisited in detail (though it‘s mentioned again once). While this type of scene usually is enough to really detract from the book for me, it‘s like a bloody bit of foreshadowing for the rest of the emotional ride the book gives. It‘s not a gratuitous scene, but with the farm setting, the mortality of animals is present but not pervasive. 4d

TorieStorieS @ShelleyBooksie It‘s a predator/prey situation that involves lethality for all animals involved. It‘s horrible, but didn‘t make me cry. If that helps at all$ 4d

ShelleyBooksie Thank you @TorieStorieS - I really appreciate that detail. The book sounds really good but I had been avoiding it. 3d

TorieStorieS @ShelleyBooksie No problem— I was hesitant about it, too, but I ended up really loving it (maybe in part because my expectations were low?)— if you do read it, I definitely want to know what you think of it! 😊 3d

60 likes1 stack add7 comments

BoleyBooks

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

Now Available! 🥳🎉
Broken Country- Clare Leslie Hall

Book Review- https://www.boleybooks.com//broken-country/

#boleybooks #brokencountry #clarelesliehall #bookbeast #netgalley #bookbuds #letsread

41 likes

SilversReviews

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

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Difficult to put down read...very well written and emotional.

What happens when the love of your life appears after 13 years, but you are married and still grieving the death of your child?

It actually isn‘t a romance - this dual timeline read is filled with emotion, characters you won‘t forget, and events that will tug at your heartstrings. 5/5

https://tinyurl.com/3rdmmjhz

@clarelesliehall
@simonandschuster

EKonrad Loved this one! 😍 6d

37 likes1 stack add1 comment

robinb

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

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In Hall's US debut, we get a powerhouse of a story featuring awesomely drawn flawed characters, a rich and descriptive location setting (North Dorset farming village 1968-1975) and a sprawling, at times heart wrenching storyline. First, let me say that while reading this it felt monumentally grand scale to me, and at 319 pages, how can that be, right? Hall has crafted a compact, concise portrait of the lives of three interconnected characters 🔻

robinb who are shown from the various perspectives of lovers, spouses and parents. And how they deal/live within these roles and in society as well as with each other makes for a complex, engrossing story. This book is told from the viewpoint of the MFC (Beth) and references both past and present lives of its three protagonists...Beth herself, Gabriel, and Frank. There were times that I could practically see them, hear them and feel their emotions...🔻 2w

robinb the writing is that visceral and deep-rooted. There's tragedy, jealousy, compulsion, angst, conflict and ultimately resolution. There are also a host of secondary characters (especially Jimmy, Nina, Leo and Bobby) who just round out what is a flawlessly executed book.
This one jumps to the head of my favorite list for this year, and it will take a stupendous effort to dislodge it. Can't wait to read more from this talented author. 5+/5⭐️ 2w

49 likes2 stack adds2 comments

Bookbuyingaddict

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

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Wow adebut novel so lucky to get an arc this one‘s gonna be a hit , it‘s out in March in the uk. With no spoilers - a story about the raw passion of first love , of mistakes , of loving two people at the same time , the discussions we make in youth and the consequences later in life , grief and the heartbreakof breavement, a crime , a thriller , a plot twist and ending you won‘t see coming,what more can I say , raced through itin 2days loved it

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2mo

Suet624 First loves ... aren't they the hardest to recover from???? 2mo

41 likes2 stack adds2 comments

Bookbuyingaddict

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

Mollie moonbeam (that is her actual kennel name 😆) and I have been lucky enough to receive an ARC of broken country & WOW 😮 a debut!it is fantastic.A love triangle, a reflection on grief,the age old question of can you be in love with 2 people at once? And a thriller/crime to boot, 76%into & it will be one of my favourite books of ‘25 already.not published here until March il be buying copies for myself & my friends. Compared to paper palace …..

Bookbuyingaddict …and where the crawdads sing , I‘d say it‘s on a par with PP which I loved & better than crawdads. USA 🇺🇸 and UK 🇬🇧 will have different jackets/covers I think 🤔 publishers have got this cover with the bird on completely wrong 😑 it doesn‘t do the book justice - I do prefer the cover with the farm house on but still alittle lacking for such a wonderful debut. I think it‘ll be a word of mouth hit 2mo

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2mo

37 likes2 comments

BoleyBooks

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

Tackle the TBR 🤓📚
What are you reading?
#boleybooks #brokencountry #clarelesliehall #bookbeast #NetGalley #bookbuds #bookchat

39 likes1 stack add

SilversReviews

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

3/4

Well written and emotional.

What happens when the love of your life appears after thirteen years, but you are married and still grieving the death of your child?

It actually isn't a romance - this dual timeline read is filled with emotion, characters you won't forget, and events that will tug at your heartstrings. 5/5

37 likes

Tweetyrn4u

Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall

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This book was an ARC, written so beautifully! The details were so rich that you could close your eyes and put yourself right into the scenes in the book. I was totally engaged in this book from the start right through to the end. It has a lovely romance story line with tremendous depth to it. This book was compared to Where The Crawdads Sing.This book has all the feels of a truly phenomenal powerful well written book that is not to be missed!

4 likes

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