Whitcoulls Recommends: Broken Country and Wild Dark Shore

Broken Country by Clare Lesley Hall. Set in a small English farming community in the 1960s, this is the story of a love triangle which goes horribly wrong. Beth and Gabriel were young lovers whose lives then took very different turns and when they reconnect years later, a lot of things have changed. You know from the first page that someone is dead, and the weight of secrets which Beth and her husband Frank are holding becomes insurmountable as a murder trial looms and nothing will ever be the same again. Beautifully written and highly recommended.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. Dominic Salt and his three children live on the remote island of Shearwater where he’s the custodian of the world’s largest seed bank. A woman is washed ashore in a storm, but her arrival can’t be random as the island is so remote and it soon becomes clear she’s come searching for something which the family may not want to give her. The isolation, the depth of these characters and the unfurling of the story is couched in some exceptional writing. This book is a miracle. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Ab Joan Mackenzie joins me now to talk books. Good morning,
good morning, Thank you very much. You've brought me a
book which I'm very excited about, Broken Country, Claire Leslie Hall.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Yes, it's very good. Tell me about it well. It
is the story essentially of a love triangle that goes terribly,
terribly wrong. It's set in nineteen sixties in a small
farming village where a husband and wife, Beth and Frank,
are living their life, living very happily on their farm,
when suddenly she gets word that her first love has

(00:43):
come back and moved on to the farm next door,
and he has with him his son. Now, Beth and
Frank had a son who they lost, and so she
feels drawn towards this child of her former lover and
goes and spends increasing amounts of time with them, which,
as you can imagine, for a woman who was otherwise
happily married, is going to somehow under the relationship. But

(01:08):
the thing about the book is that there is all
through it you're aware that there is a murder trial
going on, and I'm not giving any spoilers here, because
on the very first page you know that somebody has died,
and through the course of the book there is a
trial which is going on and then at the end
of course you figure out, you find out exactly what
it was that happened. So, as I say, it's a

(01:29):
love trial where things went very love triangle where things
went very bad. And the way that it's laid out
in the story of essentially these three people and the
relationships between them is really well done.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
She's a British author. I think she's also an actress.
Oh okay, so this is set in the UK. Yes,
it is small English farming village. It was a secret
affair until it was a public scandal. It's a good
line for the COVERSID okay, brilliant, very much looking forward
to that. Charlotte McConnaughey has a new book out she does.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
It's called Wild Dark Shore. And I read this book
and the first thing I have to say about it
is that I think it's a miracle. It is the
most beautifully put together, beautifully written story about a guy.
Dominic Salt is his name. His wife died and he
and his three children are now living on a remote
island called Salt Water, which is somewhere between Tasmania and Antarctica,

(02:27):
and they are responsible there as custodians of the world's
largest seed bank. But the seed bank is imperiled because,
as you know, the weather and the climate are changing.
And one day there is a very bad storm and
a woman is washed up on the shore. But of course,
because they're so remote, she can't possibly have just been passing.
She must have been intent on getting to that island,

(02:49):
which indeed she was. And as she comes to and
joins them and they house her, show her hospitality, but
clearly she's looking for something, and clearly there are things
that they don't want her to find out.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
And it's so well done you can just feel that
I and then you can feel it being just their
sort of day to day, the way they function being
interrupted by this strange you know, and.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
The depth of character these three kids are extraordinary, particularly
the youngest one. It's one of those books you just say,
it's a joy to read.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
So is it because of the way she writes, all
the way the story unfolds, or the story itself or
all of that.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Is that just what's everything? Sometimes you say a book
is character driven or plot driven. She's nailed all of it.
She's got the location, she's got the people, she's got
the intrigue. It's wonderful.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Okay, Wild Dark Shaw is the name of that book
by Charlotte McConaughey. And also we spoke about Broken Country
by Claire Leslie Hall. A couple of goodies there, Joan,
thank You're welcome. To see you next week.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
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