I felt so alone in this world, and so loved at the same time.” But at the same time, I felt so hung out to dry there, like nobody could ever understand. “Maybe that’s what religion is, hurling yourself off a cliff and trusting that something bigger will take care of you and carry you to the right place.” “Just because it’s complicated, just because you think you can’t ever know everything about another person, it doesn’t mean you can’t try.” “One of the main reasons I don’t like leaving the house is because I might find myself face to face with a Canadian.” The sooner you learn it’s on you to make life interesting, the better off you’ll be.”

You think it’s boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret about life.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence–creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic. But Bernadette’s intensifying allergy to Seattle–and people in general–has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Maria semple new book