Our John Willie — Catherine Cookson

She was proud and lovely and aloof, living alone in her family manor. Respectfully the villagers addressed her as Miss Peamarsh to her face, but had far uglier names for her among themselves.

Miss Peamarsh knew of their malicious tongues--but would not let them see her secret hurt. She had been a young girl when desire had lured her into a shocking sin. Now she was a woman who feared love--until two small boys and a handsome, headstrong man who mocked society's rules entered her life. From that moment Miss Peamarsh's fragile inner peace began to turn to turmoil, as she was caught in a flood of feelings she thought were dead...

Here, from a great romantic novelist, is a spellbinding story of a woman's perilous decision to open her door to love.