Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Length: 288 pages
First Published: 2023
View in Goodreads
Buy on Amazon
Publisher’s Description
When a woman mysteriously vanishes, her sister must tally up the clues to discover her fate.
Marguerite, a beautiful woman, has disappeared from her small town in Upstate New York. But is foul play involved? Or did she merely take an opportunity to get away for fun, or finally make the decision to leave behind her claustrophobic life of limited opportunities?
Her younger sister Gigi wonders if the flimsy silk Dior dress, so casually abandoned on the floor, is a clue to Marguerite’s having seemingly vanished. The police examine the footprints made by her Ferragamo boots leaving the house, ending abruptly, and puzzle over how that can help lead to her. Gigi, not so pretty as her sister, slowly reveals her hatred for the perfect, much-loved, Marguerite.
Bit by bit, like ripping the petals off a flower blossom, revelations about both sisters are uncovered. Subtly, but with the unbearable suspense at which Joyce Carol Oates excels, clues mount up to bring to light the fate of the missing beauty.
About Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an author whose works include We Were the Mulvaneys, 48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister, Blonde, and the short story collection The (Other) You. She is a professor of humanities at Princeton University.