title: The Choice
author: Erle, Joanna
description: Seventeen-year-old Lucy Daunton is left homeless and penniless following her father's bankruptcy and death, but then the local rector offers her shelter. Meanwhile, through her father's suppression of evidence, Harry Verrell has spent 12 years in exile escaping a false charge of murder. Cleared at last, he returns to England an angry and frustrated man. And when he buys Lucy's former home, she suspects his motive is revenge and she the target. Their first disastrous meeting sets the tone for what is to follow, but other dangers threaten Lucy and, oddly, it is Verrell who is usually foremost in her defense. Is he falling in love or simply keeping the pleasure of her ultimate ruin for himself?