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Broken Country gives us a thriller with a difference
Clare Leslie Hall’s “Broken Country” is not your typical thriller, though its undercurrent is unmistakably thrilling. It begins in stillness on a quiet farm in England, where Beth and her husband, Frank, live a quiet life. But everything shifts when Frank’s brother shoots a dog that has wandered into the fields. The moment is brief, but its impact is lasting: the dog belonged to Gabriel Wolfe, Beth’s teenage love — the man who broke her heart.
Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son, Leo. For Beth, the encounter is destabilizing. Leo reminds her of her own son, who died in an accident years ago. As old tensions in the village rise and jealousies resurface, Beth is forced to reckon with the woman she used to be and the life she chose instead.
The author describes “Broken Country” as a novel about “love in all its forms” — romantic love, the first love that imprints itself deeply, and the hard-earned love that grows with time. Reese Witherspoon praises it as “an unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives.” But perhaps what’s most telling is that she teases her fellow bookworms that “it’s also a masterfully crafted mystery that will keep you guessing until the very last page.” If its plot catches the book lover-in-chief herself off guard, that’s as strong an endorsement as any.
