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.