The Burnt Offering — Sonia Deane

Claudia is caught up in the conflict and turmoil of her parents' unhappy marriage; the impact of their incompatibility making her vow never to follow in their footsteps, and to distrust love... Claudia's fight, however, is not only against prejudice and fear, but against the scheming of a mother who, to gain her own happiness, would sacrifice that of her daughter. In seeking to avoid the misery she believes to be attendant upon marriage, Claudia is drawn into the web of two loves while slowly and remorselessly history threatens to repeat itself.