Broken Country

Broken Country follows Beth, a woman whose seemingly peaceful life on a Dorset sheep farm unravels after a tragic accident and a long-buried love resurface. When her brother-in-law kills a dog belonging to Gabriel Wolfe—her teenage sweetheart turned stranger—Beth is thrust back into a past she’d tried to forget. Gabriel’s return with his young son, Leo, reignites old passions and forces Beth to confront the choices that shaped her marriage to Frank, a kind but guarded man.

As tensions rise in their rural village, dangerous secrets from Beth’s past collide with the present, spiraling into a murder mystery that threatens everyone she loves. The novel weaves between timelines, revealing how a forbidden love triangle, jealousy, and grief set off a chain of events with irreversible consequences. Hall’s lyrical prose captures the raw beauty of the English countryside while exploring the fragility of trust and the weight of forgiveness.

The story crescendos into a courtroom drama, where buried truths and moral ambiguities come to light. Characters grapple with guilt, redemption, and the haunting question: Can love survive when the past refuses to stay buried? With twists that defy prediction, Broken Country is a meditation on how fate and human frailty intertwine.

Hall masterfully balances sweeping romance with taut suspense, crafting a narrative that feels both timeless and urgently modern. The novel’s emotional depth and richly drawn characters linger long after the final page, challenging readers to reflect on their own definitions of loyalty and sacrifice.

A Reese’s Book Club pick and New York Times bestseller, this book has been praised for its “stirring and mysterious” storytelling (Delia Owens) and its ability to blend “passionate love” with “pulsing suspense” (Miranda Cowley Heller). It’s a story about the scars we carry and the courage it takes to heal them.