You’ll Never Know, Dear by Hallie Ephron is a novel of suspense. Publisher: William Morrow, June 6, 2017

Lissie Woodham was only seven years old when her little sister Janey disappeared. They had been in the front yard, playing with their dolls, custom creations made for them by their mother Miss Sorrel, a famous dollmaker. Lissie wandered off for a moment. When she returned to the yard, Janey was gone, and so was her doll.

Now an adult with a college-aged daughter of her own, Lis has never stopped blaming herself for what happened, and it continues to haunt her. Every year on the anniversary of Janey’s disappearance, Miss Sorrel places a classified ad in the local papers with a picture of Janey’s one-of-a-kind doll, offering a cash reward for its return. Never, in all these years, has anyone brought her a doll that could be Janey’s—until now. Four decades after Janey went missing, a woman responds to the ad with a broken porcelain doll.

What begins as a small clue in a tragic cold case turns into something far more sinister. The women in Miss Sorrel’s family may be in danger, because whoever knows the truth about what happened all those years ago will do anything to keep it hidden.

This was a hauntingly exquisite tale of suspense that had me immediately immersed in this well-written drama that I could not put down until I knew how this was going to end. A missing daughter. A missing sister. And when by chance a doll is brought into their presence, the pieces of the past fall apart and secrets are exposed to tell a story of betrayal and deceit. The narrative was visually descriptive putting the imagery of the words in my mind as a film as I clutch at every word said and acted out among this cast of characters who all played pivotal roles that enhanced the telling of this tale. The anticipation, the awareness, the discovery, the coming to terms and the final betrayal, all created a wonderfully executed page-turner that consumed me from beginning to end. A terrific read by one of the gifted authors in this genre.

Buy Link

FTC Full Disclosure – I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher.