Where'd you go, bernadette (Orion Publishing Co)

'Like A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD written by Tina Fey' Sam Baker, RED MAGAZINE Shortlisted for the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction A NEW YORK TIMES bestseller COMING SOON: The film adaptation, directed aby Richard Linklater and starring Cate Blanchett, Kristen Wiig and Billy Crudup Bernadette Fox is notorious.

To Elgie Branch, a Microsoft wunderkind, she's his hilarious, volatile, talented, troubled wife. To fellow mothers at the school gate, she's a menace. To design experts, she's a revolutionary architect.

And to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, quite simply, mum. Then Bernadette disappears. And Bee must take a trip to the end of the earth to find her. WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE is a compulsively readable, irresistibly written, deeply touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's place in the world.

My happy summer holiday book was the funny, quirky and surprisingly moving Where'd You Go, Bernadette żeby Maria Semple. It's the kind of book you read and want to buy for friends -- Alison Starling * THE GUARDIAN * A dazzling comic novel about a misunderstood architect.

It's an eccentric and brilliantly accomplished story with a real screenplay quality to it -- Viv Groskop * THE OBSERVER * An extremely funny and ultimately moving farce about a quirky American family falling apart over a holiday to Antarctica -- Alex von Tunzelmann * EVENING standard * This novel, written in the form of emails, notes and phone calls, is original and funny and you'll learn a lot about Antarctica.

-- Joanna Czechowska * WOMAN * This is an extraordinary novel - a fresh, funny, perceptive voice, and an exhilarating read. * GOOD BOOK GUIDE *...wonderfully eccentric * MUMSNET *...this book is highly enjoyable.

-- David Hebblethwaite * FOLLOW THE THREAD * Where'd You Go, Bernadette is my favorite novel so far this year. It's funnier than a season's worth of Modern Family, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Justified episodes; it's also the most original and imaginative fiction I've read since The Invention of Hugo Cabret -- James Patterson * NEW YORK TIMES * I've been devouring the savagely funny Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple.

A TV comedy writer, Semple's wide array of targets include parenting, over-achievement, schoolgates rivalry, creativity, Seattle, Canadians, Microsoft, Antarctica and marital love... Semple is funny, smart and deeply touching -- Rowan Pelling * THE DAILY TELEGRAPH * This light relief on the Women's prize shortlist has warmth and bite in equal measure.