Broken Country (Reese's Book Club)

1950~60年代の話だが、19世紀かと錯覚するような趣がある。 主人公に共感して気持ちはわかるのだが、不倫にはしるところは「あちゃあ～、まずいでしょ」と 思いながら読みました。 ミステリ要素も大きいが、これはとめるにとめられないラブストーリです。読後感はよい。

イングランド ドーセット州の穏やかな農場地帯。多感な娘べスは富豪の息子ガブリエルと恋仲になったが彼の母親が家柄を理由に介入して破談となった。失意のべスを幼馴染のフランクが慰め、やがてフランクと結婚して羊農家の主婦となり可愛い息子ボビーをもうけた。フランクにはこの上なく仲の良い弟ジミーがいて皆で幸せに過ごしていた。ところが突然近所にガブリエルが引っ越してきて一家の平穏が乱される。話としては波乱含みの展開でとても惹きつけられる。しかし章が１９５５年のべスの少女時代と１９６８年の現在を行き来するのは仕方ないとしても、過去章が１９５５年から少しずつ現在に近づいてくるし、ついには現在と思っていたのがもっと先があったと明かされて、ついていくのに戸惑う。さらに時期不明の「裁判」沙汰が入り込んでどうやらこれが話の肝らしいが何時・何の事件か 被害者・被告は誰か、などなかなか教えないという引っ張りでかなりイラつく。時期を行き来する手法は別の作にもみられるので作者の好みのようで、これでどうだ、という作者の思惑が鼻につき、単細胞の読み手としてはあっさり時系列を追って緊張を高めてくれたほうがありがたい。

“Broken Country” by Clare Leslie Hall is a story set in England in the 1960s and 1970s. I generally don’t enjoy a multiple time-lined story, but in this case, it works well. The book opens when a farmer shoots a neighbor’s dog when it kills his newborn sheep. The neighbor, it turns out, is Beth’s first love from when she was a teenager. Gabriel has moved back to his family’s beautiful home with his ten-year-old son. A friendship begins and the reader learns that what happened in the past is not so easily forgotten. I enjoyed this book a lot, although I felt at times Beth’s husband Frank was way more saintly than a man would generally be when faced these circumstances. Perhaps he is the “perfect” man which really doesn’t exist. Many thanks to Net Galley and to the publisher for an ARC of this book. My opinions are my own.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall ⭐ 5.0/ 5.0 This book absolutely destroyed me in the best possible way. Broken Country is one of those rare books that feels painfully real. It's deep, emotional, heartbreaking, and completely unforgiving. Clare Leslie Hall shows no mercy to her characters. Every choice, every mistake, every secret and every consequence matters. This is truly a story where actions have weight, and nobody escapes them unchanged. The story follows Beth Johnson, caught between Frank Johnson and Gabriel Wolfe, and what I loved most is that there are no villains and no heroes. Everyone is simply human. Everyone is trying to love, survive, heal, and find happiness while making mistakes along the way. I couldn't fully take anyone's side because they all had reasons for what they did, and they all paid a price for it. What hit me hardest was seeing how differently Beth's life unfolds because she is a woman. Many of the choices and consequences she faces would have been viewed completely differently if she were a man. The book quietly but powerfully highlights those double standards without ever feeling preachy. The writing is stunning. The dual timeline flows effortlessly, and even though the story moves between past and present, it is incredibly easy to follow. Clare Leslie Hall's descriptions made me feel like I was standing in those fields, breathing the country air, feeling the grief, the longing, the passion, the melancholy, and the heartbreak right alongside the characters. This isn't a big book, but it carries the emotional weight of something much larger. Beautifully written, devastating, intense, and unforgettable.

What a beautiful, complicated and emotional story. That ending, WOW. One of my favorite books this year, for sure !

Loved the dual timelines! The twist and ending were the best.

Wow, wow, wow. I'm a grizzled 65YO infantry soldier who shouldn't read books like this; and yet... I came outa' the womb reading books! This is a phenomenally good book with an ending so unexpected, I'm still struggling to work out how I missed the surprise(s). Not to be missed... Congrats Ms Hall.

Uma boa leitura!