11 Of The Best Books Like Broken Country By Clare Leslie Hall

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“This is a love story with too many beginnings. I refuse to think about how it is going to end.”

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If you’ve finished Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall and are looking for books that capture that same blend of emotional depth, small-town secrets, and slow-burn suspense, you’ve come to the right place. This unforgettable Reese’s Book Club pick weaves forbidden love, buried pasts, and the haunting beauty of rural life – and if that’s your sort of story, there are plenty of similar novels to fall in love with next. Whether you’re drawn to the atmospheric mystery of Where the Crawdads Sing or the emotional intensity of The Paper Palace, these books like Broken Country, offer that perfect mix of heartbreak, tension, and hope. From literary mysteries to love-story-turned-thrillers, each recommendation explores how secrets shape our lives and the people we become. Here are our favourite books to read if you liked Broken Country – and can’t stop thinking about it. 

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Broken Country Summary

Beth and her gentle, kind husband, Frank, are happily married, but their relationship depends on the past remaining buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realise 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 hauled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise, and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past are brought to light, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to choose between the woman she once was and the woman she has become. A sweeping love story with the twists and turns of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passions, impossible decisions, and the far-reaching legacy of a first love. 

The Names – Florence Knapp

Kicking off our list of books like Broken Country is another one of the most poignant new books from 2025, Florence Knapp’s The Names. In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register the birth of her son. Her husband, Gordon, respected in the community but a controlling force at home, intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and name the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates… 

Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternating versions of their lives, shaped by Cora’s last-minute choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities for autonomy and healing. 

Where The Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens

For years, rumours of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her. But Kya is not what they say she is. A born naturalist, she takes life’s lessons from the land. Soon, however, she is drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty; Kya opens herself to a new and startling world – until the unthinkable happens. 

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming-of-age story and haunting mystery, perfect for anyone who loved Broken Country. Thought-provoking, wise, and extremely moving, Owens’ debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps. 

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The River Is Waiting – Wally Lamb

Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that’s before he causes the tragedy that rips his family apart. 

Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to brutal acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model. Buoyed by them, Corby begins to transcend the boundaries of his confinement, sustained by the hope that reconciliation might be possible. Can his crimes ever be forgiven by those he loves? 

Heartwood – Amity Gaige

In the heart of the Maine woods, an experienced Appalachian Trail hiker goes missing. She is forty-two-year-old Valerie Gillis, who has vanished two hundred miles from her final destination. Alone in the wilderness, Valerie pours her thoughts into fractured, poetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping. 

At the heart of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who leads the search on the ground. Meanwhile, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut retirement community, becomes an unexpected armchair detective. Roving between these compelling narratives, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search, as Valerie’s disappearance may not be accidental. Poignant and gripping, Heartwood is another female-led mystery that fans of Broken Country are sure to love. 

Burntcoat – Sarah Hall

In an unnamed British city, the virus is spreading, and like everyone else, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness retreats inside. She isolates herself in her immense studio, Burntcoat, with Halit, the lover she barely knows. As life outside changes irreparably, inside Burntcoat Edit and Halit find themselves changed as well. And Burntcoat will be transformed too, into a new and feverish world, a place in which Edith comes to understand how we survive the impossible – and what is left after we have. 

A sharp and stunning novel of art and ambition, mortality and connection, Burntcoat is an intimate and vital examination of why we create – make art, form relationships, build a life. It is one of the best books to read if you loved Broken Country. 

Spectacular Things – Beck Dorey-Stein

Mia and Cricket have always been close. The gifted daughters of a young single mother, the “Lowe girls”, are well-known in the small Maine town they call home. Each sister has a role to play: The respectable and academically-minded Mia assumes the position of caregiver far too young, whereas Cricket, a bouncing ball of energy and talent, seems born for soccer stardom. But the cost of achieving athletic greatness comes at a steep cost. 

As Mia and Cricket grow up, they must grapple with the legacy of their mother’s secret past, whilst navigating their own precarious futures. A sharply observed and tender portrait of sisters, love, and ambition, Spectacular Things is a novel similar to Broken Country about the impossible choices we make in pursuit of our dreams. 

The Paper Palace – Miranda Cowley Heller

It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace” – the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: last night, Elle and her oldest friend, Jonas, crept out the back door and had sex for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. 

Now, over the next twenty-four hours, Elle will have to choose between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always believed she would have with her first love, Jonas. Another one of the best books like Broken Country, The Paper Palace, considers the tensions between desire and dignity, the legacies of abuse, and the crimes and misdemeanours of families. 

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Ask Again, Yes – Mary Beth Keane

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, two rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. What happens behind closed doors in both houses – the loneliness of Francis’ wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne – sets the stage for the exposive events to come.

Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes is a moving novel about two families, the bond between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marriage, and the power of forgiveness. 

We Are The Brennans – Tracey Lange

When twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it’s not easy. She’s deserted them all – and her high school sweetheart – five years before with little explanation. And they’ve got questions. 

Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the East Coast, even if it does mean tiptoeing around resentful brothers and an ex-fiance. The longer she stays, however, the more she realises that they need her just as much as she needs them. When a dangerous man from her past brings her family’s pub business to the brink of ruin, the only way to protect them is to upend all their secrets. In the aftermath, the Brennan family is forced to confront painful mistakes – and ultimately forge a way forward, together. 

The Bright Years – Sarah Damoff

Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn’t told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn’t told Lillian about, so Georgette comes of age watching their marriage rise and fall. When a shocking blow scatters the fragile trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from the reminders of her parents. 

Years on, Lillian’s son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgette must return to her roots, unearth her family’s history, and decide whether she can open up to love them – or herself – while there is still time. Told from three intimate points of view, The Bright Years is a tender, true-to-life novel that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, is restored by the power of grace and love.  

All The Colors Of The Dark – Chris Whitaker

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.  When the daughter of an affluent family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges – Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake. 

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another. Another gripping book like Broken Country, All the Colors of the Dark is a missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, and a unique twist on each. Chris Whitaker has composed a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsessions and the blinding light of hope. 

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