You'll Never Know, Dear

Hallie Ephron has achieved a riveting suspense novel, and Amy McFadden's narration is compelling. Forty years ago, Lis and Janey were playing outside when Lis ran after a puppy, leaving 4-year-old Janey alone. When she returned, Janey, and her one-of-a-kind porcelain doll, were gone. On the anniversary of Janey's disappearance, their mother places a photo of Janey's doll in the newspaper, offering a substantial reward for clues to Janey's whereabouts. When the doll is returned, McFadden ramps up the tension with completely credible characters, including Janey's mother; Miss Sorel, a doll maker; daughter Lis, who blames herself for Janey's disappearance; Lis's daughter, Vanessa; her next-door neighbor, Evelyn; and the slightly sketchy woman who's after the reward. McFadden handles plot twists and coincidences with understated intensity, making this a must-listen. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

April 24, 2017
In this character-driven page-turner from Ephron (Night Night, Sleep Tight), Lis Woodman was seven years old when her four-year-old sister, Janey Woodham, disappeared from their yard in sleepy Bonsecours, S.C. Decades later, what could be the first significant clue finally surfaces—in the form of Janey’s look-alike handmade doll that vanished along with her, one of the first of the highly prized creations that would turn the home workshop of the girls’ mother, known as Miss Sorrel, into a collectors’ mecca. Just hours after the doll’s arrival, the workshop explodes, and most of Miss Sorrel’s doll collection is stolen. With local law enforcement none too interested in investigating, it falls to Lis and her grown daughter, Vanessa, a grad student researching sleep, to hunt for answers—if they dare. Ephron overcomes some plot issues—the story starts slowly and several big surprises in the home stretch prove less than plausible—with her engaging portrait of three generations of bickering, bull-headed, but loving women challenged to become their bravest and best selves. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents.

February 1, 2017

Lissie was only seven when little sister Janey and an extraspecial porcelain doll vanished from their front yard, and 40 years later she still blames herself. No one has ever responded to an ad their mother places yearly on the anniversary of Janey's disappearance, but now the doll has come to light. All of Ephron's novels have been short-listed for the Mary Higgins Clark Award; with a 35,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017
The return of a handmade porcelain doll that belonged to a child kidnapped 40 years ago kicks off a series of dark revelations.Ephron's latest (There Was an Old Woman, 2013, etc.) follows three generations of small-town South Carolina women through the unraveling of a buried truth. Sorrel Woodham, called Miss Sorrel by one and all, is a serious amateur doll maker and doll collector. Her best friend and partner in these pursuits is her bossy, gossipy next-door neighbor Evelyn Dumont. Way back when both women's husbands were still around, Miss Sorrel had two daughters, Lis and Janey. Then 4-year-old Janey was taken from the front yard where the girls were playing, and Lis, now 46, has been living with the guilt all this time. The pressure of the combined anxiety of her grandmother and mother have driven Lis' daughter, Vanessa, to pursue her postdoc in dream research far away in Providence, Rhode Island. "Hope of finding out what happened to Janey had long ago faded," yet Miss Sorrell still serves Janey's favorite banana pudding every year on "Remembering Day," the anniversary of her disappearance, and runs an ad in the local paper offering a reward for the doll Janey was carrying when she was taken. The reward started at $100 but has since been adjusted for inflation to $5,000. As the book opens, a woman in tight jeans and a junky car shows up with what may well be the doll, but she is spooked by Miss Sorrel's intense reaction and beats it out of there without the reward. Shortly after that, Miss Sorrel's kiln, used for baking doll heads, explodes. At this point, young Vanessa really has to come home and help out; interestingly, her dream research will come into play. Diverting, if a little too easy to figure out. Would have been a great vehicle for Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, including all the slightly creepy dolls.

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May 15, 2017
Forty years after four-year-old Janey Woodham disappeared from her yard, clutching the unique portrait doll made by her mother, Sorrel, resolution may be in sight. Each year Miss Sorrel, as she is known, offers a $5,000 reward for the return of Janey's doll, and this year a tattered doll with a damaged porcelain face is brought to Sorrel, provoking amateur detective work and DNA tests. Lis Woodham, three years older than Janey, is now divorced with a grown daughter, living with her mother, and still feeling responsible for her sister's disappearance, which occurred when she was distracted by a cute puppy passing by. But wait: years after Janey disappeared, another little girl went missing from her yard in the same South Carolina town. Guilt, betrayal, and vengeance, all simmering for years, come to a head as secrets are revealed. The creepy jacket illustration seems to promise more suspense than is delivered, and, in fact, this may appeal more to readers of women's fiction than to mainstream mystery fans. Still, with its strong characters and vivid sense of place, the novel should draw from both camps.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)