The moving and suspenseful new novel that Ann Patchett calls smart and
thrilling and impossible to put down... the book that every reader longs
for.
"This summer's undoubtable smash hit... an addictive,
heart-palpitating story." --Marie Claire
The sun is shining, the sea is blue, the children have
disappeared.**
**
When Liv and Nora decide to take their husbands and children on a
holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. The adults are lulled by the
ship's comfort and ease. The four children--ages six to eleven--love the
nonstop buffet and their newfound independence. But when they all go
ashore for an adventure in Central America, a series of minor
misfortunes and miscalculations leads the families farther from the
safety of the ship. One minute the children are there, and the next
they're gone.
The disintegration of the world the families knew--told from the
perspectives of both the adults and the children--is both riveting and
revealing. The parents, accustomed to security and control, turn on each
other and blame themselves, while the seemingly helpless children
discover resources they never knew they possessed.
Do Not Become Alarmed is a story about the protective force of
innocence and the limits of parental power, and an insightful look at
privileged illusions of safety. Celebrated for her spare and moving
fiction, Maile Meloy has written a gripping novel about how quickly what
we count on can fall away, and the way a crisis shifts our perceptions
of what matters most.
