Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

 

Beth is a country girl.  When she was a teenager, she met Gabriel, son of a lord and from a very wealthy family whose land was adjacent to her family's.  Gabriel is about to attend university while Beth still has a year before she can go.  But the two fall in love, and give their virginity to each other.  But when Gabriel goes away, the strain of a long distance relationship tears them apart.

Beth ends up marrying Frank who has had a crush on her since his boyhood days.  The two live on Frank's family farm and have a son together.  But life isn't always fair.  Their son is killed in a farming accident and as the novel opens, the couple is in a strained relationship.

The setting of the beginning of the novel is a courtroom.  Someone has died and someone else is being tried for causing their death.  We don't know who either of these people are until it is revealed later in the book.  What we do know is that Gabriel has returned to the area with his own son and the spark between he and Beth flares again and they have an affair.  Did it cause the death?

Clare Leslie Hall is an English author who lives in the same kind of farm setting as Beth does in the novel.  This book will draw you in and then rip your heart in two.  It is the tale of love in all its myriad fashions and what happens when love is destructive rather than positive.  I think it is probably one of the best books I've read in 2025 and I'll definitely be looking for the next novel by Hall.  This book is recommended for readers of women's and literary fiction.