Where’d You Go, Bernadette

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What to expect

Bernadette Fox is notorious.

To Elgie Branch, a Microsoft wunderkind, she's his hilarious, volatile, talented, troubled wife.
To fellow mothers at the school gate, she's a menace.
To design experts, she's a revolutionary architect.
And to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, quite simply, mum.

Then Bernadette disappears. And Bee must take a trip to the end of the earth to find her.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a compulsively readable, irresistibly written, deeply touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's place in the world.

(p) 2012 Hachette Audio

Critics Review

It's intelligent but easy to read; eccentric but never twee.
ELLE UK
I love the extraordinarily well-drawn characters, the plot, the tender, lovely relationship, the humour, and the courage to do daring things
Nina Stibbe
Extremely funny, often laugh-out-loud so... with her penchant for unexpected twists and smart, jet propelled dialogue, Semple has a way of combining a technologically savvy, ice-cool wit with a stealthy ability to show gradually a character's warmer side
Sunday Times
The characters in Bernadette may be in real emotional pain, but Semple has the wit and perspective and imagination to make their story hilarious. I tore through this book with heedless pleasure
Jonathan Franzen
Fresh and funny and accomplished, but the best thing about it was that I never had any idea what was going to happen next. It was a wild ride
Kate Atkinson
A fresh, flamboyantly witty new voice
Helen Fielding
A delightfully funny book, that constantly catches one by surprise, Where'd You Go, Bernadette combines a shrewdly observed portrait of Seattle life with, of all things, a mysterious disappearance in Antarctica. A pleasure
Matthew Kneale, author of English Passengers
Maria Semple dissects the gory complexities of familial dysfunction with a deft and tender hand. Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a triumph of social observation and black comedy by a skilful chronicler of moneyed malaise
Patrick deWitt, author of The Sisters Brothers
If you loved the humour of A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, pack this sharp, witty novel...A fabulously kooky tale
Easy Living
A clever, witty page-turner with sparkling dialogue, some hilarious episodes and a heart that gradually melts
Mail on Sunday
[A] deeply touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's place in the world. A seriously compulsive read
Stylist
In what is at times a sad and painful tale about family dysfunction, black comedy waylays sentimentality. Semple's second novel is a witty, thrilling adventure about creation, destruction, the Antarctic - and the maternal bond
Observer
The funniest book I've read in a decade. I laughed to the point of crying on an airplane. My wife thought I'd lost my mind until she read it a few days later
John Green, Marie Claire
A novel full of honesty and heart
CNN

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