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. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. Now Bee must take a trip to the end of the earth to find her mother.