Books Like Where’d You Go, Bernadette

More sharp tongues, missing people, and trouble in writing.

Bernadette Fox disappears before a family trip to Antarctica. Her daughter Bee goes looking for her in emails, invoices, and notes. The private messages are half the pleasure. Other people have social obligations. The way Bernadette describes hers, you’d think those were the part she needed to pack for.

If you wanted to spend longer in other people’s inboxes, go straight to Natalie Sue. If you’d rather see what happens when a family can’t get its most capable member to play along, start with Sue Townsend.

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01
The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year
by Sue Townsend
Eva Beaver’s children leave home, and she gets into bed. When her husband Brian asks about dinner, she tells him she isn’t hungry. He has to explain whose dinner he meant. He calls her mother for help and finds out where he ranks next to a perm.
This is the closest match for anyone who sided with Bernadette. Here you know exactly where the woman is, which leaves more time to watch everyone try to get her back to work. The marriage makes for bleak reading in places, especially around infidelity.
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02
The Satsuma Complex
by Bob Mortimer
Gary Thorn leaves the pub remembering the book a woman was reading and little else he can use to find her. Then his drinking companion Brendan goes missing, and finding her matters a great deal more. Gary talks the problem over with a squirrel, whose answers he supplies himself. The mystery gets darker than that scene suggests, with domestic abuse part of the story.
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03
The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old
by Hendrik Groen
At his Amsterdam care home, Hendrik apologizes when he laughs at the wrong moment and saves what he thinks of management for his diary. If you liked finding out what Bernadette would put in a private message, you’ll be glad Hendrik writes things down. He and his friends call their group the Old-But-Not-Dead Club. He writes about dementia and declining health, too.
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04
Anxious People
by Fredrik Backman
A would-be robber flees a cashless bank and takes hostages at an apartment viewing. A father and son on the police force try to find out what happened from witnesses who are difficult even by the standards of people buying an apartment. The interviews give you the pleasure of revising your first impression, and Backman is gentler with his witnesses than Semple is with Bernadette’s neighbors. The book deals directly with suicide and attempted suicide.
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05
I Hope This Finds You Well
by Natalie Sue
Jolene types insults in white at the bottom of her work emails, then sends one she’s forgotten to hide. IT steps in and accidentally gives her access to everyone else’s messages. With layoffs coming, she has a reason to keep reading. Start here if your favorite part of Bee’s search was seeing how differently people talk when they think they know who’s listening.
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06
This Is Where I Leave You
by Jonathan Tropper
Judd Foxman and his sister manage to argue about grammar while discussing their father’s death. Now they have to sit shiva together for a week. Go here for family arguments with the gloves off, plus a marriage undone by infidelity and a mother who’s made a career out of advising other parents.
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07
Good Omens
by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
The farthest afield. An angel and a demon decide they like Earth enough to stop Armageddon, if they can find the missing Antichrist. The arguments start in Eden, where Aziraphale is already wondering how to explain what he did with his flaming sword.
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08
The Undomestic Goddess
by Sophie Kinsella
Samantha Sweeting tries to send a work email from under a towel during a spa treatment. She ends up explaining why her underwear is vibrating. By the time a mistake at her law firm sends her to the country and into a housekeeping job she has no idea how to do, you know exactly how hard she’ll work to keep up appearances. Pick this for a sweeter romance, if you can stand the secondhand embarrassment.
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09
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels
by India Holton
Cecilia hopes an attempt on her life will finally earn her some respect from the senior ladies in her society. She has less patience for an assassin who interrupts a library visit. Take this one for the manners if you’re happy to trade Seattle for flying Victorian houses and a romance conducted partly through theft.
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