The Nanny

One morning in 1987, seven-year-old Jocelyn Holt, the heroine of this devastating psychological thriller from bestseller Macmillan (I Know You Know), wakes up in Lake Hall, her family’s English mansion, to find her beloved nanny, Hannah Burgess, gone. Strangely, Jo’s aristocratic parents find nothing sinister about Hannah’s disappearance. Years later, Jo, who deeply resents her emotionally distant mother, moves to California, where she falls in love with Chris, with whom she has a daughter, Ruby. Jo never forgets Hannah, and when Chris dies suddenly, Jo returns to Lake Hall with Ruby. The girl enrolls in primary school while Jo reacclimatizes herself to the British culture. One day, the two of them are relaxing on the shore of the lake when they find a human skull. The police come to investigate. Does the skull belong to Hannah? Are the Holt parents implicated in her death? Macmillan expertly ratchets up the tension as long-held secrets come to light. Readers will have a tough time putting this one down. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency (Canada). (Sept.)