Broken Country – Book Review

“The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.”

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.

When Beth was seventeen years old, she falls in love with Gabriel Wolfe who is the son of a wealthy family living in a mansion in the village. But when Gabriel moves to Oxford and that Beth realizes that Gabriel is seeing someone, she is heartbroken and returns back to the village. She marries a local farmer Frank, and together, they lead a happy family life. Or so she thought. In 1968, when Beth’s brother-in-law Jimmy accidentally shoots a dog, the dog is the owner of Gabriel and his son Leo. Old memories swept past Beth as the two begin an affair. Then comes the murder of a farmer and the trial.

The story is divided into five parts–Gabriel, Bobby, Jimmy, Frank and Grace–as all these people have affected Beth’s life in some way. Set in the late 1960’s in the English countryside, the vivid descriptions of the village and the farm in general makes you feel like you are living in Dorset in a farm. The story is beautifully written, capturing the reader into the story and making the reader feel like they are a part of the story. The story is mainly told in Beth’s POV and through her POV we could feel a wave of emotions, heartbreak as she is recounting her story. The intimate feelings between Gabriel and Beth, the intense chemistry between the two of them was well written in my opinion. The book is a Reese’s Book Club selection and there were many raving reviews on this book. And I actually enjoyed reading this book.

Overall, this book is worth five stars in my opinion.