You’ll Never Know, Dear

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. (June)