You'll Never Know, Dear by Hallie Ephron

HarperCollins Publishers | June 2017 | 304 pgs

Source: Library

That creepy cover. No, this isn't a horror novel and although it has dolls as a theme, this story is actually about a case of a little girl's disappearance.

Lissie and Janey Woodham were out playing at their yard when the elder sister, Lissie, left 4-year-old Janey behind to chase after a puppy. Thinking Janey was back in the house, Lis didn't take notice and by then a few precious hours were wasted. Their mother, whom others called Miss Sorrell, is a doll maker and a doll collector herself. Together with her best friend and neighbour, Evelyn, they make and repair dolls and Miss Sorrell even makes her own portrait dolls which bear the hallmark of a Sorrell leaf; a special indication to differentiate her dolls from others. Their mother had made a doll for each daughter; and many speculated that Janey or whoever kidnapped her took her doll too because it couldn't be found.  

The case remains unsolved throughout the years and Lis now has a college-aged daughter, Vanessa. She continues to live with Miss Sorrell while Vanessa is in another state working on her grant proposal on sleep-related research. However, Vanessa's proposal has to take a backseat as she's received a call from Evelyn that both her grandmother and her mother are in a hospital due to an accident in their workroom. Before this, she understood that a woman had turned up at Miss Sorrell's house with a broken porcelain doll in responding to her ad about Janey's special portrait doll. Every year on the anniversary of Janey's disappearance, Miss Sorrell will place a classified ad offering a cash reward and there's been no news until now. Is that really Janey's doll and is she really alive all these years? As Miss Sorrell's family tries to find out more about that woman with the doll and its authenticity, they'll soon learn that there's more than meets the eye and whoever knows the truth surrounding Janey's disappearance will ensure that the mystery will never be solved and will do anything to keep it hidden. 

I really enjoyed reading this story. Though not entirely a gothic story, I've to say there's still a little sense of creepiness surrounding the dolls what with their real-like looks and their scattered body parts waiting to be assembled (or wigs made from real hairs). Hallie Ephron succeeded in capturing a reader's attention with her suspenseful plot and intriguing characters through her writing skills and I've to say some information about the sleep research on directing dreams is another interesting aspect of this story. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author. 

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