The Nanny: A Novel

"The Nanny kept me in white-knuckled suspense until the very last page. Gilly Macmillan's breakout thriller is a dark and twisted version of Downton Abbey gone very, very wrong." -- Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author

The New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew conjures a dark and unpredictable tale of family secrets that explores the lengths people will go to hurt one another.

When her beloved nanny, Hannah, left without a trace in the summer of 1988, seven-year-old Jocelyn Holt was devastated. Haunted by the loss, Jo grew up bitter and distant, and eventually left her parents and Lake Hall, their faded aristocratic home, behind.

Thirty years later, Jo returns to the house and is forced to confront her troubled relationship with her mother. But when human remains are accidentally uncovered in a lake on the estate, Jo begins to question everything she thought she knew.

Then an unexpected visitor knocks on the door and Jo's world is destroyed again. Desperate to piece together the gaping holes in her memory, Jo must uncover who her nanny really was, why she left, and if she can trust her own mother...

In this compulsively readable tale of secrets, lies, and deception, Gilly Macmillan explores the darkest impulses and desires of the human heart. Diabolically clever, The Nanny reminds us that sometimes the truth hurts so much you'd rather hear the lie.

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416 pages

Average rating: 6.67

30 RATINGS

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3 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

JHSiess
Feb 03, 2024
8/10 stars
Gilly MacMillan ups the gothic horror ante to a new level.

Jo returns home broken following the sudden death of her husband, Chris. She must put the interests of their five-year-old daughter, Ruby, ahead of all else. While Chris's business affairs are sorted out, she plans to stay with her mother, a "seventy-year-old relic of the English aristocracy, cold, old-fashioned, snobbish, selfish, greed, and fluent in the Queen's English." Jo's father is ...read more
MauveSoul8099
Feb 24, 2023
6/10 stars
3.5 Stars
chaistainedpage
Jan 03, 2023
4/10 stars
WHY IS EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK SO ANNOYING.

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