Where'd You Go Bernadette

Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Cover of the 2014 edition of the novel
Editor	Judy Clain
Author	Maria Semple
Cover artist	Keith Hayes
Language	English
Genre	General-Fiction
Published	August 2012 Little, Brown & Company
Pages	351 (In the 2014 paperback version)

Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a 2012 comedy novel written by Maria Semple. The plot revolves around an agoraphobic architect and mother named Bernadette Fox, who goes missing prior to a family trip to Antarctica. It is narrated by her 15-year-old daughter Bee Branch. It is told in a series of documents (emails, memos, transcripts, etc.) with the occasional interlude by Bee.

After her mother's disappearance, 15-year-old Bee Branch gathers correspondence relating to her mother in order to ascertain what has happened to her. Bee traces the incident back to her acceptance to Choate Rosemary Hall, which her mother, Bernadette, also attended. As a reward for being accepted to Choate, Bee convinces her parents, stay at home mother, Bernadette, and father Elgin, a genius who works at Microsoft, to take her to Antarctica. Though Bernadette is mostly housebound she delegates the task of making their arrangements to a personal assistant in India, Manjula.

Because she is housebound, Bernadette has an ongoing feud with some of the mothers at Bee's private school with the main instigator being her neighbour Audrey Griffin. Audrey accuses Bernadette of running over her foot with her car (which Bernadette does not dispute, though it is untrue). Later, when Bernadette has vines from their property removed at Audrey's request, the incident causes a mudslide which partially destroys Audrey's home, creating further animosity between the women.

Bee also learns that her mother was once a famous architect, winner of a MacArthur "Genius" Grant because of her creation of the 20 Mile house, so called because it was made from material sourced from within 20 miles of the home. After she won the grant, Bernadette sold the house, only to belatedly realize it had been sold to a hostile neighbour who demolished the home as soon as he obtained it. After the defeat Bernadette moved to Seattle where she had four miscarriages before Bee.

A friend of Audrey's, Soo-Lin Lee-Segal, an admin at Microsoft, goes to work for Elgin Branch. She reveals to him Bernadette's "attacks" on Audrey, causing him to question whether to admit Bernadette to a psychiatric institution. As Soo-Lin and Elgin begin an emotional affair, the FBI also contact Elgin to reveal "Manjula" is actually a Russian money scamming ring who plan to defraud Elgin and Bernadette. Elgin arranges for an intervention with Bernadette at the dentist to reveal these facts to her, but because of a mistake the (unsuccessful) intervention happens at their home with the FBI and police involved. In the middle of the intervention Bernadette goes to the washroom and disappears.