The Look of Innocence — Anna Gilbert

AN ANGELIC FACE AND A CLOUD OF GOLDEN HAIR

Ella's helpless fragility and haunting beauty took silent possession of everything Cassie loved. Her disturbing sensibility filled every corner of the quiet English village where their lives were inextricably tangled in sorrowful secrets of the past.

Cassie, orphaned early by a sudden, savage fire, watched hopelessly as her one remaining attachment in life -- her love for young Joel Danby -- withered in Ella's grasp. And, although Cassie would forgive Joel anything, Ella's unspoken knowledge of Cassie's early tragedy threatened an impending evil for them that even death might not bring to an end.

Winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year Award (1976) by the Romantic Novelists' Association.