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Beauty and Brutality: A Q&A with Clare Leslie Hall

By Clare Leslie Hall, Isabelle McConville / March 3, 2025 at 1:16 am

A marriage shrouded in secrets and a town pulsing with tension, this is a love story unlike any other. Both passionate and propulsive, Broken Country is a poignant tale of love, loss, guilt and grief. Read on for an exclusive Q&A with author Clare Leslie Hall on the process writing Broken Country.

Hardcover $25.99 ~~$28.99~~

Broken Country (Barnes & Noble Book Club Edition)

By Clare Leslie Hall

In Stock Online

Hardcover $25.99 ~~$28.99~~

A love triangle unearths dangerous, deadly secrets from the past in this thrilling tale perfect for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.

IM: My name is Isabelle McConville, and I’m the blog writer here at Barnes & Noble. I am so excited to be here with Clare Leslie Hall, author of our latest B&N Book Club pick, Broken Country. Clare, thank you so much for being here today.

CLH: It’s an absolute pleasure and an honor to be here.

IM: Can you please set up the story of your new novel for us? I’d love to hear how you see this story as the one who crafted it.

CLH: Broken Country is about a very passionate love triangle that takes place in a small village in England during the 1960s, and it culminates with a big murder trial in London. It’s the story of a young woman called Beth, who’s torn between two completely different men. There’s her farmer husband, Frank, and her first love Gabriel, who has unexpectedly arrived back in the village. He’s now a wildly successful and famous author, and he throws her life into turmoil. I’d also say, because it opens with the first sentence, you know that a man’s died and there’s a question mark over who killed him. Although it’s a love story, it’s also a courtroom drama and a thriller rolled into one.

IM: I love that you break the rules of genre a bit, and we get the best parts of all of my favorite kinds of books in this one.

CLH: Oh, I’m glad you think so. I think as an author, you are always told that you should stay in your lane, but I also love to read stories with a strong element of suspense. That’s my favorite.

IM: Me too. I’d love if we could start with a scene early on in the book when Beth and Frank’s lambs are attacked and killed by a dog, who they learn belongs to Gabriel and his son. It really represents this loss of innocence, right off the bat. Can you speak to creating that scene and what you hoped it would elicit in readers right from the beginning?

CLH: Exactly that. It was a really critical scene, and that scene was actually the spark of the novel. It was inspired by a real-life event, which happened when my husband was out running in the fields behind our house with our youngest son’s puppy, and it was lambing season, and the dog strayed into a field of lambs, and the farmer threatened to shoot him. Although it didn’t happen — thank goodness — it sparked the idea because I could see the farmer and his wife in the field of sheep, and I could see a young boy running towards them. I knew that young boy reminded them of the son that they’d recently lost. I could also feel that there would be a strong attraction between the boy’s father and the farmer’s wife. That was the whole spark for the novel.

I suppose readers don’t like to read about dogs being killed — I don’t either — but it was very important to me that I conveyed the devastation of the farmer, of seeing their lambs savaged, because after that real life incident, I really started to think about how horrified we were. We could’ve lost our pet, but it would be awful for the farmers to watch their lambs being killed, and for the sheep to lose their lambs. I wanted to convey those feelings. It was very important to see because it sets up the entire story and brings together these three protagonists right from the start. You can see the push and pull between all of them, because Beth is seeing this child who reminds her of the child that she’s lost, and she’s seeing this man she once loved. All the emotions are there in that one scene, so I hope that’s what I got across.

IM: Oh, absolutely. That scene really sets the tone for the rest of the novel. As soon as I read it, I remember stopping and thinking, ‘okay, where are we going? What am I getting myself into?’ I really, really loved it. I think that scene, like you said, is so critical and it ties together the different threads of genre that you have going on in this book. Can you speak to deciding to make this part-love story, part-murder mystery? Did it ever cross your mind to write two different books?

“My starting point is always human emotion; that’s what I like to explore. It could be nostalgia, or grief or longing.”

CLH: No, I never did think of writing two different books. My first two novels were also love stories crossed with mysteries. In the UK, they were positioned as thrillers, which didn’t ever feel quite right. My starting point is always human emotion; that’s what I like to explore. It might be nostalgia, or grief or longing. For the first two years, it was primarily a love story, but there was always a man that died, and there was always a strong element of suspense. There was a specific moment about two years into writing it when I remember saying to my partner, I really want to include a murder trial in this novel, but I don’t know if I can do it, because I’d never written a courtroom drama before. I hadn’t really even read that much courtroom drama, apart from obviously To Kill a Mockingbird, which is one of my all-time favorite books. I went and spent a week in the Old Bailey, which is a very famous old courthouse in London, and I was so inspired by the theater and drama of the court, the gowns and the wigs and the whole pomp. The barristers and the prosecution defense were like actors. I went home and wrote my own version. There was a specific moment, I would say about halfway through writing the novel, when I thought, ‘hang on, this could also be a courtroom drama.’ When I look back, I think that’s the bit I’m proudest of, because it was quite a challenge for me to write it, but I think it really amped up the suspense.

IM: Completely. You do a wonderful job of building tension and expertly stitching together different parts of the past and present throughout the book, and it really makes you want to read the whole novel in one sitting. I also thought that the setting of the English countryside actually acted as a character of its own in a way. It gives and takes, it’s both nurturing and devastating. Can you speak to developing that setting?

“It opened my eyes to the beauty and the brutality of pastoral life. I really wanted to capture that.”

CLH: I’m so glad you felt that way because that’s exactly what I hope readers will feel. My family and I live in a very old 16th century farmhouse, which is surrounded by farmland. When I was researching the novel, I spent a lot of time with farmers. I learned how to milk cows; I went harvesting and lambing. Every single time, I was so struck by how the farmers would stop in the moment of their day’s toil, and they would point out a moment of real stark beauty. To me, it might be a skylark soaring or just seeing a newborn calf. It opened my eyes to the beauty and the brutality of pastoral life. I really wanted to capture that. Researching the novel actually enabled me to connect to the landscape around me in a way that I hadn’t before. I used to go on dog walks, and I would be listening to a podcast, and I’d sort of see it, but not really register it. I really wanted the landscape to be its own character.

IM: I think it speaks to the world building that I found really great in this novel, because I don’t believe world building is exclusively for science fiction and fantasy. I think you need a solid sense of world and place if you’re writing about the 1950s and 60s Dorset in 2025. What really helped you find this world and hone it for the story?

CLH: I actually went and stayed with a couple in a county called Kent, which is about four hours away. They really served as the inspiration for Frank and Beth’s life, and they were so kind to me. I went out with the wife, Lisa, and she showed me the hide that her husband built for her so she could watch these nesting kestrels, which goes into the book. What I could see, was that although there was quite a lot of financial hardship, this was an absolute passion for both of them. I felt that with all of the farmers. That research really helped me find the characters and the setting.

I also looked back at newspapers of life in the 50s and 60s, and that helped me choose to set it then. It began as a contemporary novel, but it never felt quite right. It also began with three voices — Frank, Gabriel and Beth. About two years in, I thought, hang on a minute — this is a woman’s story. It’s a woman who’s torn between two men, and it feels period. I remember saying to my agent, “I think I’m going to set it in the 50s” and she already assumed it was period. That’s partly because I was inspired by novels like Atonement by Ian McEwan and an English novel called The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley. They’re both set in the 1930s, and they both feature love across the class divide. I had them in the back of my head. I also really wanted to throw into high relief the stark difference between Beth’s life and Gabriel’s life. They’re both equally academic and have the same aspirations to go to Oxford University and become published writers, but Gabriel, a boy who’s born into great wealth and entitlement, can make mistakes and his life never gets knocked off course. Beth’s life gets knocked off course so easily. That was another reason for setting it in the 50s and 60s.

IM: That brings me right to Beth — she’s the heart of this novel. I adored her character. I wonder if you can speak a bit about crafting her character and how you really found her voice, especially if this novel first started with three different voices.

“I think we tend to think of nostalgia as being this sugar-centered emotion. If it comes along in a time of great turmoil or loss . . . it can be quite menacing.”

CLH: I always had her voice right from the start, and I always knew what made Beth tick right from the start. I knew she’d lost a child, and I was a little bit hesitant about exploring parental bereavement because I knew it would be devastating, but that was the story that came. She’s flawed because she’s pulled back into this love affair with Gabriel. What was really important for me to get across was the pain that she’s in, and how her marriage is in turmoil because Frank isn’t able to give her the space to grieve. She’s got nowhere to go with this awful loss she’s feeling. Through Beth, what I really wanted to explore, was the dark pool of nostalgia, because I think we tend to think of nostalgia as being this sugar centered emotion. If it comes along in a time of great turmoil or loss as Beth is experiencing, then it can be quite menacing. She’s drawn back into this great love affair that had finished for no good reason. The chemistry between Beth and Gabriel is the same, but I think she’s pulled back into wanting to be the girl that she was before loss and heartbreak. She’s feisty when she’s young, and she’s ambitious. What I love about her journey, is she has a lot thrown at her in the novel, and she doesn’t get the academic life that she craves at the beginning of the novel, but she actually finds a much richer and more rewarding life on the farm. I really liked that arc for Beth. It was important for me to give her that resolution.

IM: I do think that this is a coming-of-age novel in more ways than one. We get to know Beth as a teenager, as a mother, and a grieving woman wrapped up the loss of her son and the return of her first love. What was it like to write her in those different stages of development and flip between being in this headspace of a teenage girl, and then a grieving mother and discontented wife?

“I found it quite easy to depict the very early visceral passion of first love and the innocence of it.”

CLH: I don’t think I felt like I was flipping. I can’t really explain it any better than that, except I found it quite easy to depict the very early visceral passion of first love and the innocence of it. I possibly found it harder and more devastating to depict her grief. I can’t really say anything other than for some reason, I really had a very strong sense of Beth from the start. I had to work much harder with other characters. With Beth, I just knew who she was. I think that she changes, but the essence of Beth is the same, even when she’s at school and facing difficulties. She’s headstrong, and her head mistress identifies that and says, I’m not that worried about you, and it’s true. She’s a fighter, and she fights all the way through. In that sense, I don’t think she does change that much. I think she has to adapt to the different circumstances of her life.

IM: Absolutely. We also learn that Beth is a poet, and we even get to read one of her poems at one point in the book. How did you make that choice for her character? Were you familiar with writing poetry beforehand, or was that more of a new thing for you with this book?

CLH: That’s a good question. If you were to see my first draft compared to my last draft, they’re so different. The first draft had a lot of poetry in it, and I am no poet. I can tell my daughter’s a poet, but I am not.

IM: I’d argue against that!

CLH: There was a lot of poetry in the first draft. That one poem we read was there from the first to last draft. It always came in the place that it comes. That was always, always there. I’m so glad you liked the poem.

IM: I thought it was the perfect touch for this book, and I’m not surprised that it lived in the first draft as well.

CLH: Yeah, I always thought that whatever happens, that poem is staying in.

IM: I’m so glad you did. To pivot for a minute to Gabriel, when we meet him for the first time in the book, he’s kind of a haughty teenager telling Beth she’s trespassed onto his land. She immediately disarms him by laughing about the idea of it being his land, and I think it really speaks to their entire relationship throughout the book. At one point, Beth asks him if he thinks she’s a country bumpkin, which really showed her awareness and insecurity of their class differences that you touched on earlier. Can you talk a bit about that choice and why you really wanted to have that class divide between them?

CLH: I think it was very interesting to see, and I think, like I said, it’s probably why I set it in the period I did, because in rural England at that time, the class divide was so stark. I just really wanted to show the difference between them and the fact that they’re both very bookish and they’re both very romantic and in many ways, they’re like the male and female version of each other when they first meet. But because of their class differences, their lives follow very, very different paths.

IM: Beth’s husband, Frank, is already a fan favorite character from this book. Everybody loves Frank, and I love Frank too! He’s the hero, he’s the gentle giant, he’s the steady rock in Beth’s life. Can you talk about creating his character and finding his voice?

CLH: Yes, absolutely. I love Frank, too. I will say, there were a couple of moments when the book wasn’t quite working, and I would stop writing it for a bit, and it was always Frank that made me go back. I needed to know what Frank’s ending was. I didn’t find him difficult to write. I think it really helped that when I wrote within the male voices, I wrote Frank’s voice in a different style. It was very earthy; it was a style of writing I’d never really done before. It gave me a very strong sense of who he is. He’s a man of the Earth. He’s a man of his time, as well. He’s quite repressed. He’s very loving, and he’s very loyal, and he’s very forgiving as well, not only to Beth, but also to Jimmy. He’s flawed because he keeps his grief locked inside of himself. Not just the grief of losing his son, but also his grief with losing his mother. When he’s a teenager, he doesn’t deal with it; he throws himself into work, and he doesn’t give his wife the space she needs to grieve, which is really what causes their marriage to implode. I had to make him quite nuanced because he is a hero, and everybody loves Frank, and I do too, but Frank is not perfect. Frank recognizes in himself that he’s not perfect, and he’s really driven by guilt. I loved creating Frank. I really did, because I think there’s a lot of depth to him.

IM: Yes, absolutely. He is such an incredible character. I really loved him.

“I wanted to ask the question, ‘is it possible to love two people at once?'”

CLH: When it comes to Gabriel, I really just wanted the two men to be completely different. I wanted to ask the question, ‘is it possible to love two people at once?’ In order to do that, I needed to create two men who not only were very different from each other, but who connected to and ignited different parts of who Beth is. Gabriel is bookish, and romantic and creative, like Beth, and Frank is down to earth and loving. He introduces her to farm life, and that becomes an enormous part of who she is as a person. Gabriel, on the surface, seems very privileged, entitled, and handsome, and he has everything. What I hope comes across with him is that he has all this wealth and privilege, but he’s grown up in a life that really lacks love, and he doesn’t have the same connection that Beth has with her family and her sister. He’s got some very deep-rooted insecurity.

IM: I also want to bring up one of my favorite quotes from this book. When they first meet, Beth tells Gabriel she’s a bad poet, and he says: “Don’t say that. You have to fool yourself into thinking you already are the thing that you want to become. That’s what my father says. You write, therefore you’re a writer.” I think that’s true in so many ways, across so many dreams, professions and lives. Have you ever had to have that conversation with yourself? I know that I’ve had that conversation with myself.

CLH: Oh, often. That’s almost like a direct quote from my life, because I remember I used to be in a writer’s group before I got published, with these two other friends. We all hated when people asked us about our books, because we didn’t feel we could give ourselves the accolade of ‘writer’ because we hadn’t been published. But it’s crazy, really, because if you write, you are a writer. I think the imposter syndrome there is very real.

IM: That’s one of those quotes I’d like to put on a little bulletin board above my desk, just to remind myself. I think it’s such a great part of the novel, and it really speaks to Beth’s character and the hardships that she goes through, especially with trying to go to Oxford.

CLH: Of course, it doesn’t work out, but it is something that Gabriel gives her at the beginning. He gives her that belief in herself when he tells her she can do it.

IM: Lastly, who are you reading now?

CLH: I’m very lucky, because I’ve been given a few arcs from some novels that are coming out, and two of them I just read absolutely blew my mind. One of them is The Names by Florence Knapp, which has this amazing premise. The other one is called The Tomorrow Project by Heather Critchlow. It’s dystopian fiction set 50 years in the future. It’s about a young girl and a whole group of children who are saved when a sickness wipes out basically the entire global population. It’s also a love story. I don’t normally read dystopian; it’s a bit like Station Eleven, in that way. The other book that I adored recently is The Wedding People by Alison Espach. I love books that take something quite dark as a subject but then turn it into something really engaging and light. That’s my favorite kind of book.

IM: Thank you so much for doing this today, Clare. I had such a lovely time talking to you.

CLH: Oh, me too, Isabelle. Thank you very much.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.