Bernadette Fox is brilliant.  She’s a reknowned architect and the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant.  She’s the beloved wife of a Microsoft executive, and mom to a precocious teenaged girl, Bee.  Bernadette is also a recluse who has withdrawn so completely from society that she outsources her life to a virtual personal assistant in India.  That is, until one day, when Bernadette disappears.

Bee is convinced that – despite what everyone around her believes – her mom wouldn’t just vanish.  She’s sure that Bernadette is waiting for her somewhere, and that all she must do to find her mother is piece together a few clues.  Bee gathers emails, letters, faxes, and articles into a book, which she plans to analyze for hints as to Bernadette’s whereabouts.  It is these items, interspersed with some traditional narration wherever Bee feels the need to fill in a few story gaps, that make up Maria Semple’s charming Where’d You Go, Bernadette.

I waited for months, inching my way up the queue, to get this from the library.  Turns out, I should have just bought a copy to begin with – because I certainly will return to Bernadette’s story again and again.  Bee’s faith in her mother is incredibly touching, and the epistolary structure is one of my favorite literary devices.  Where’d You Go, Bernadette is a sweet, whimsical, and uplifting novel about the love between a mother and daughter, about facing demons and never giving up and believing in your family.  I loved it, and I’d recommend it to absolutely anyone.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple – buy it here (not an affiliate link) or support your local indie bookstore.