The Choice

"As a woman in the early 1980s, Clarissa Phipps is unable to pursue her priestly vocation. Instead, she joins the BBC, where she is sent to interview the artist Seward Wemlock about the panels he is painting for an ancient Cheshire church. Thirty years on, now rector of that same church, she chances upon Brian, the chief bell-ringer and husband of her closest friend, fondling fifteen-year-old David. David claims they are in love, but Clarissa is obliged to act. Will she choose friendship or conscience, sympathy or her duty of care? The fallout from that choice forces her to reflect on past concerns over Wemlock's relationship with his teenage models. Had she heeded the whispers at the time, how many lives - her own included - would have turned out differently?"--Provided by publisher.