by Maria Semple
First published 2012
Bernadette Fox has built a reputation that divides people. Her Microsoft executive husband sees a bold partner. Seattle private school mothers view her as an embarrassment. Architecture fans know her as a brilliant designer. Her fifteen year old daughter Bee simply loves her as Mom. When Bee earns straight A's, she claims her reward: a family vacation to Antarctica. The problem is that Bernadette has grown so uncomfortable around people that she barely leaves home. She relies on a virtual assistant in India to handle basic tasks. The prospect of traveling to the world's most remote continent terrifies her. Then Bernadette disappears completely. Bee refuses to accept that her mother is simply gone. She gathers emails, documents, and private letters to piece together what happened. Through these fragments, Bee uncovers the truth about her mother's struggles and her own place in a world that often makes no sense.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Antarctica, Seattle
Period: 21st-century
330 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company
Content warnings: mental-illness