
Go Gentle: Oprah's Book Club
Paperback – Large Print, April 14, 2026
Diversified Publishing · Paperback · April 14, 2026
"Maria Semple is a treasure." —Los Angeles Times The New York Times bestselling author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette returns to form in her most exuberant and life-affirming novel yet with the story of one woman’s cheerful determination to live a life of the mind only to have the heart force its way in.
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- Who it’s for
- Readers interested in mid-life transformation stories
- Themes
- self-discovery, romance, philosophy
- Pacing
- Mixed
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"Maria Semple is a treasure." —Los Angeles Times The New York Times bestselling author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette returns to form in her most exuberant and life-affirming novel yet with the story of one woman’s cheerful determination to live a life of the mind only to have the heart force its way in. Adora Hazzard has it all figured out. A Stoic philosopher and divorcée, she lives a contented life on New York City’s Upper West Side.
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Having discovered that the secret to happiness is to desire only what you have, she’s applied this insight to blissful effect: relishing her teenage daughter, the freedom of being solo, and her job as a moral tutor for the twin boys of an old-money family. She’s even assembled a "coven"—like-minded women who live on the same floor in the legendary Ansonia—and is making active efforts to grow its membership. Adora’s carefully curated life is humming along brilliantly until a chance meeting with a handsome stranger. Soon, her ordered world is upended by black-market art deals, secret rendezvous, and international intrigue . . . and her past—which she has worked so hard to bury—lands like a bomb in her present. Inflamed by unquenchable desire, Adora finds herself a woman wanting more: and she’ll risk everything to get it. Adora Hazzard’s journey of self-discovery will grip you from the start. Romantic, hilarious, intelligent, and bursting with the stuff of life, Go Gentle is a thrilling story of one woman’s mid-life transformation, cementing Maria Semple in the pantheon of our most exciting and important contemporary writers.
Who it’s for
- Readers interested in mid-life transformation stories
- Fans of intelligent, romantic, and humorous contemporary fiction
Where it sits
| Later-Life Romance | 65% |
|---|---|
| Literary Fiction | 35% |
| Women's Fiction | 28% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Funny Fiction
- Literary Fiction
- Family Life
- Authors
- Maria Semple
- Publisher
- Diversified Publishing
- Published
- April 14, 2026
- Format
- Paperback
- Theme
- self-discovery · romance · philosophy
- Reading lane
- Funny Fiction