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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