Tag: NetGalley

Book Review – Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

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About the Book

Everyone in the village said nothing good would come of Gabriel’s return. And as Beth looks at the man she loves on trial for murder, she can’t help thinking they were right.

Beth was seventeen when she first met Gabriel. Over that heady, intense summer, he made her think and feel and see differently. She thought it was the start of her great love story. When Gabriel left to become the person his mother expected him to be, she was broken.

It was Frank who picked up the pieces and together they built a home very different from the one she’d imagined with Gabriel. Watching her husband and son, she remembered feeling so sure that, after everything, this was the life she was supposed to be leading.

But when Gabriel comes back, all Beth’s certainty about who she is and what she wants crumbles. Even after ten years, their connection is instant. She knows it’s wrong and she knows people could get hurt. But how can she resist a second chance at first love?

Format: Hardcover (320 pages) Publisher: John Murray
Publication date: 4th March 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

The book moves back and forth in time, shifting between the trial of an unnamed defendant for the murder of an unnamed victim in 1960, Beth and Gabriel’s love affair as teenagers in the 1950s and the events of Beth’s ten year marriage to Frank.

There’s a wonderful innocence about Beth and Gabriel’s teenage romance through the heady heat of one idyllic summer, even if it’s not long before it is consummated. However, Gabriel’s mother doesn’t approve of the relationship. She sees a different future for her son, one that doesn’t involve marriage to a local girl. Summer comes to an end and Gabriel sets off for university leaving Beth thinking their relationship will persist. But events conspire to break them apart and she finds herself alone and facing an uncertain future. Frank, the young man who has been her devoted admirer ever since they were at school together, becomes her rescuer. He doesn’t care what’s happened in the past, he’s just overjoyed that he’s finally with Beth and they can set up home together on the family farm.

Running a farm is hard, physical work involving long hours. It doesn’t help that Frank’s younger brother, Jimmy, rolls in drunk most nights and doesn’t pull his weight. And only Frank seems able to control Jimmy’s angry outbursts.

Despite its uncertain beginnings Beth and Frank’s marriage is a success built on a foundation of love, mutual attraction and moments of joy. But it is also marked by a tragedy that has left them both with deep-seated psychological scars. Frank buries himself in work whilst Beth’s profound grief leaves her barely able to function, mindlessly completing the round of daily chores.

When Gabriel arrives back to live in the house he grew up in, Beth finds it impossible to resist the thought they might still have a future together. After all, they were supposed to have a life together weren’t they? It’s a kind of madness that makes her blind to any consideration of the possible consequences – with dire results.

I couldn’t really warm to Gabriel who seemed self-absorbed and indifferent to the consequences of his actions. And although I felt empathy with the teenage Beth and the circumstances she finds herself in, and immense sympathy for the tragedy that occurs later, I found it hard to forgive some of her decisions. For me the real hero of the book was Frank, the epitome of steadfast love, forgiveness and understanding despite bearing the burden of his own guilt. (The rural setting and love triangle gave me Thomas Hardy vibes, in particular Far From the Madding Crowd. There’s a Gabriel in that, of course.)

Broken Country is a beautifully written book that combines an intense, heartbreaking love story with elements of a thriller. It’s a very cleverly constructed book with a number of revelations kept for the final chapters. Although I didn’t find events after the trial particularly credible, they do set things up for an emotional ending that left even cynical old me slightly tearful. But then I always cry at the end of The Railway Children even though I know what’s coming.

I received a review copy courtesy of John Murray via NetGalley.

In three words: Emotional, dramatic, intense
Try something similar: The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

About the Author

After several years of living and working in London as a journalist and writing Pictures of Him and Days You Were Mine, Clare, her husband and three children moved to an old farmhouse in Dorset. The house, the ancient fields surrounding it and the farmers who have a deep connection to the land inspired the setting for Broken Country. (Photo: Goodreads)

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Book Review – The Mouthless Dead by Anthony Quinn

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About the Book

One night in 1931 William Wallace was handed a phone message at his chess club from a Mr Qualtrough, asking him to meet at an address to discuss some work. Wallace caught a tram from the home he shared with his wife, Julia, to the address which turned out, after Wallace had consulted passers-by and even a policeman, to not exist.

On returning home two hours later he found his wife lying murdered in the parlour. The elaborate nature of his alibi pointed to Wallace as the culprit. He was arrested and tried, found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang, but the next month the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned the verdict and he walked free.

Fifteen years on, the inspector who worked the case is considering it once more. Speculation continues to be rife over the true killer’s identity. James Agate in his diary called it ‘the perfect murder’, Raymond Chandler said ‘The case is unbeatable. It will always be unbeatable’. And on a cruise in 1947, new information is about to come to light.

Format: Hardcover (288 pages) Publisher: Abacus
Publication date: 6th March 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime

Find The Mouthless Dead on Goodreads

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My Review

The Mouthless Dead is inspired by a real case – the murder of Julia Wallace in 1931. It’s a crime which remains unsolved to this day. Quite a few people, including the author P. D. James, have had a go at trying to identify the culprit without ever coming up with a definitive answer. I had never heard of the case but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book. Frankly, the author could have invented the case and the book would still have made a gripping read.

Although many of the characters are real and events such as the trial follow the historical record, the author has created a fictional character, Detective Inspector Key who was involved in investigating the case many years before but has now retired from the police force. It is from his point of view the story unfolds as he ponders writing a memoir about the case, for his own personal satisfaction rather than with any intention it should be published.

What is particularly brilliant is the detailed back story the author creates for Key. The cruel treatment he suffered whilst a pupil of a Jesuit college. His traumatic experiences during the First World War during which he lost comrades in the most dreadful fashion. His personal life, that has been a series of disappointments, leaving him living alone. He misses the camaraderie of the police force and, although a keen member of a chess club, he has time on his hands. Hence his decision to take a transatlantic cruise to New York.

On board he meets a young woman, Lydia Tarrant, who is travelling with her rather over-protective mother and they strike up a friendship. Two becomes three when aspiring film maker, Teddy Absolom, joins their conversations around the swimming pool. Discovering Key’s involvement with the celebrated Wallace case, both Teddy and Lydia are eager to learn more about it. It soon emerges that Key has an unique perspective on the case. But how much of what he reveals is the truth and how much the product of his imagination born out of a desire to impress Lydia or provide Teddy with the perfect screenplay for a suspense film?

It’s difficult to say more for fear of spoilers but safe to say the author will keep you guessing until the end. Possibly even after that.

The Mouthless Dead is an imaginative and compelling take on a true crime story. It’s also a fascinating social history of middle-class life in Liverpool in the 1930s.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of Abacus via NetGalley.

In three words: Gripping, atmospheric, clever
Try something similar: The Dublin Railway Murder by Thomas Morris

About the Author

Anthony Quinn was born in Liverpool in 1964. From 1998 to 2013 he was the film critic for the Independent. His novels include The Rescue Man, which won the 2009 Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award; Half of the Human Race; The Streets, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Walter Scott Prize; Curtain Call, soon to be a feature film starring Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton; Freya, Eureka, Our Friends in Berlin and London, Burning. He also wrote the recent Liverpool memoir Klopp.