Where'd You Go, Bernadette - Hardcover

Maria Semple worked in Los Angeles as a television writer for 15 years, working on hit shows including Ellen, Saturday Night Live, Mad About You and Arrested Development. She lives in Seattle.

an invigorating, hilarious, addictive ride of a novel -- Maggie O'Farrell a novel full of honesty and heart * CNN * a breathtakingly original comedy * ES MAGAZINE * 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 best-selling author of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS * Laugh-out-loud funny and bitingly satirical * DAILY EXPRESS * delightfully weird... Fast-paced and hilarious, every sinewy plot twist will take you by surprise and have you laughing out loud * PA LIFE magazine * heart-warming, life-affirming novel of the year -- Polly Vernon * THE TIMES * I have hardly stopped raving about this since I read it, back in the Spring...Funny poignant and pointed, think Jennifer Egan's Goon Squad rewritten by Tina Fey and you get the picture. Without doubt, my book of the year. -- Sam Baker, editor of RED magazine * www.redonline.co.uk * as sharp as lemon juice -- Wendy Holden * DAILY MAIL * 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 -- Tom Cox * THE SUNDAY TIMES * You'd expect something fresh and funny from a writer who once penned scripts for Ellen and this does not disappoint... Dazzlingly original and entertaining * RED magazine * Semple is a TV comedy writer, and the pleasures of Where'd You Go, Bernadette are the pleasures of the best American TV: plot, wit and heart... It's rather refreshing to find a female misunderstood genius at the heart of a book...In her spiky but essentially feelgood universe, failure and self-exposure open up a rich seam of comedy, but shame can always be vanquished by love * THE GUARDIAN * Where'd You Go, Bernadette is constructed from a collection of self-absorbed perspectives, and Maria Semple ensures each expertly pitched voice is both target and author of its own satire. 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 * THE OBSERVER * Maria Semple's deeply touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's place in the world. A seriously compulsive read * STYLIST magazine * Bernadette Fox was a visionary architect, now she's a recluse, and when she goes missing, daughter Bee must track her down. Don't miss this funny debut from SNL scriptwriter Maria Semple * GRAZIA * Despite its underlying despair, this is no neurotic gloomfest, but a clever, witty page-turner with sparkling dialogue, some hilarious episodes and a heart that gradually melts * You magazine, MAIL ON SUNDAY * If you loved the humour of A Visit From The Goon Squad, pack this sharp, witty novel... we love the way the story is told through a series of emails and memos, and applaud its message that everyone is a bit mad, no matter what they look like. A fabulously kooky tale from one of the writers of TV's Arrested Development * EASY LIVING * An absorbing and witty book * STAR magazine * A funny, flamboyant portrait of a flawed heroine's attempts to fit in * MARIE CLAIRE * In this funny, clever book, notorious architectural genius Bernadette disappears and it's up to her daughter Bee to find her. One to watch this summer * ESSENTIALS magazine * 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 skillful chronicler of moneyed malaise. * Patrick de Witt, author of The Sisters Brothers * 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 * A fresh, flamboyantly witty new voice * Helen Fielding * Where'd You Go, Bernadette is 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 * 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 Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple is an innovative comic novel. The eponymous Bernadette was once a great architect but has fallen into a cycle of agoraphobia and misanthropy in Seattle. She is a bitter character who despises most other people but she's actually quite charismatic. I found myself rooting for her, which is testament to Semple's accomplished style and characterisation -- Ruth Hunter, Bertrams * THE BOOKSELLER * Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette is the book that comes closest to matching Jonathan Safran Foer's 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'. It's the highly charged story of a high achieving child, her genius Microsoft star employee father and her reclusive award-winning mother Bernadette. The family trip to Antarctica may well be their undoing. This is a hilarious novel with undoubtedly the pushiest parents ever captured in ink -- Patrick Neale, Jaffe & Neale Bookshop * THE BOOKSELLER * It's intelligent but easy to read; eccentric but never twee. * ELLE UK *