Where'd You Go, Bernadette

by Maria Semple · 2012

When 15‑year‑old Bee Fox finally earns the perfect report‑card, she expects the promised family adventure to Antarctica. Instead, her mother, the brilliant but mercurial architect Bernadette Fox, vanishes without a trace. To the world, Bernardette is a polarizing figure – a fierce partner to her tech‑savvy husband, a scandalous presence among Seattle’s private‑school moms, and a visionary in the design community – but to Bee she is simply Mom and best friend. As Bernadette’s growing agoraphobia drives her to outsource even the smallest tasks to a virtual assistant in India, the promised polar expedition becomes impossible, and Bee is left to piece together a trail of emails, official documents, and secret correspondences. The novel follows Bee’s determined quest across continents and through a maze of digital footprints, revealing a witty, heartfelt portrait of a mother’s genius, her eccentricities, and the unbreakable bond that pulls a daughter into the absurd, yet deeply human, world of her missing parent.