Go Gentle

by Maria Semple

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. 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.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Mystery, Contemporary, Audiobook, Literary Fiction, Art

384 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 2026

About the author

Maria Semple's first novel, This One is Mine, was set in Los Angeles, where she also wrote for television shows including Arrested Development, Mad About You, and Ellen.

Semple was born in Santa Monica, California. Her family moved to Spain soon after she was born. There her father, the screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr., wrote the pilot for the television series Batman. The family moved to Los Angeles and then to Aspen, Colorado. Semple attended boarding school at Choate Rosemary Hall, then received a BA in English from Barnard College in 1986.

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was as if the author had three different ideas for a book and couldn't decide which one to write about, so she smushed them all into a single book. The plot that starts out the book with the main character trying to create a "coven" of older women living on the same floor of an apartment building and supporting each other as they grow older together just pretty much disappears and is not really relevant to the rest of the book. The other two main plots eventually tie into each other even though it all seems kind of ridiculous. If the author had settled on one story to pursue this book could have been a lot better than it actually was. It felt way too disjointed as written.

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

i don't know if literary romance is a genre, but if it is it's my favorite

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
(review to come)

[Ron Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oprah's New Book Club Pick:

Chances are good that Maria Semple’s Go Gentle will be the only zany comedy about Stoic philosophy published all year.

We haven’t heard from Semple, the celebrated author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette, in a decade, but we haven’t heard from Marcus Aurelius since A.D. 180, which puts her absence in perspective.

In any event, they’re both back now and raring to go.

Semple confesses in a note to readers that she recently went through a divorce and moved to New York while mothering “a fiery teenage girl.” Feeling “all ajumble” but creatively energized, she finally figured out how to write a thriller she’d started and abandoned many times before.

Go Gentle is that thriller, complete with international terrorists, arms deals, and glamorous spies, but it’s also a goofy romantic comedy, so it sometimes sounds like an episode of Sex and the City written by Dan Brown.

The narrator is Adora Hazzard, whose allegorical name is the first clue that this woman loves danger no matter what she claims about craving serenity. Indeed, spending a few days with this character may be the most exhilarating thing you can do for yourself this summer. Every morning she opens her eyes and tells the universe, “Surprise me.”

It obliges....

Read my full review for free here:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/wom...

[Dee (in the Desert) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. No, it isn't "Bernadette" but I did really enjoy this book quite a lot. The mid-life main character and philosopher, Adora Hazzard, is a complex woman with an interesting life, job and living situation, and this one's also a madcap journey, both through the MC's past and also with an absurd situation in the present that's almost a farce. I also learned a lot about stoicism and the old philosophers. Recommend for women needing an escape - especially those "of a certain age"!

[Kelsey reviews•books · Rating 4 out of 5]

▹TL;DR Review: At times this felt like a fever dream—and I didn’t hate it. This has a bit of everything: philosophy, politics, feminism, white-collar crime, mystery, and romance.

▹My ⭐ Rating: ★★★.75 out of 5
▹Format: 📱 eReader
Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for an advanced e-copy of this book. These opinions are my own. Go Gentle comes out April 21, 2026.
─────────────────────────

○★○ What to Expect from This Book: ○★○

– About: Adora Hazzard is a stoic philosopher and recent divorcee living on New York City’s Upper West Side, confident she’s mastered the art of wanting only what she already has. She tutors the twin sons of an old-money family, has a coven of like-minded women in her building, and relishes her solo life—until a chance encounter with a handsome stranger upends her orderly world. Suddenly black-market art deals, secret rendezvous, and buried pasts come crashing in, forcing Adora to risk everything to discover what she really wants.
– Location: New York City, NY / LA / Paris
– POV: Single third-person
– Spice: A open and closed-door scenes (not overly explicit, but could make some uncomfortable)
– Tropes: midlife changes, philosophical quest, Stoicism, Amor Fati, art world antics, single mom, romance subplot
– Content warning: (POSSIBLE SPOILERS) suicide attempt, terrorist attempts, body image issues, divorce, infidelity, sexual misconduct in a workplace, class tension, art-world black-market, existential crisis, US politics in the last 10 years, being stalked, narcissistic parent
– Representation: women supporting women, mid-life FMC, #metoo

─────────────────────────

↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺ 1:00 ──ㅇ────── 4:12

Now Playing: Que Sera, Sera by Doris Day

╰┈➤ ❝Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be; The future's not ours to see; Que sera, sera❞

─────────────────────────

★○ If You Like the Following, You Might Like This Book ○★

➼ Books that lean into the philosophical, like The Stranger by Albert Camus, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
➼ Modern stories that include recent political and social events, from the 2016 US Presidential Election to the #metoo movement to mentions of the Kardashians and Pharrell
➼ Creating a coven of women who support each other

─────────────────────────

⍟»This or That«⍟

Character Driven—————✧——————Plot Driven
Fast Burn————————✧———Slow Burn
Sweet—————✧——————Spicy
Light/Fluffy———————✧————Heavy/Emotional

─────────────────────────

🎯 My Thoughts:

I’ll admit it—I picked up this book for the cover first and the description second. A coven of like-minded women in NYC? Sign me up. As a pretentious New Yorker who has never actually lived there (Midwest born and raised), I loved living vicariously through Adora and her fellow Manhattanites. But this story goes far beyond its aesthetic or setting.

Adora put me through an entire emotional spectrum: annoyance, anger, camaraderie, intrigue, pity, reflection. She’s a woman shaped by a narcissistic parent, who becomes a comedy-writer-turned-philosophy-convert after trauma, then becomes a mother navigating an era of political chaos, and a tutor teaching wealthy New York boys how to think. Following her life sometimes felt like a fever dream, but Maria Semple weaves these threads together into a surprisingly cohesive tapestry—one many readers will recognize pieces of. And honestly? She may have converted me to Stoicism.

One of my favorite elements was the way pop-culture references were juxtaposed with philosophy. I’m sure plenty of nuance flew over my head, but I loved the delightful clash of arts, humanities, relationships, crime, politics—and the romance subplot didn’t hurt, either.

Would I Recommend?: Not to everyone. But if you enjoy following a complex woman juggling motherhood, marriage, vocation, and identity—only to have it all upended by a white-collar art crime—this is absolutely worth your time. It’s different from my usual picks, but I’d happily read more from this author.

[Dallas Strawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really have no idea what the actual crap I just read. This is like a blend of four books smooshed together. The first plot was pretty interesting. I was into it. She abandoned it. There’s a new plot. I got bored. There was a time jump into the past I got really interested and then I just got totally lost. Do not recommend whatsoever.

I still believe her to be a fantastic writer stylistically. And I love her culture references. But this was just a mess.

[Trin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh no. I remember loving Where'd You Go, Bernadette, this author's novel from a decade (!) ago, but this was so bad it's making me doubt my past self.

Semple's humor, and her way, especially, with mother-daughter relationships, seemed fresh in 2016; here, they seem stale and, dare I say, cringe. I literally never want to read another "Election Night 2016" scene in a novel ever again. They are always embarrassing. I also never want to hear a male love interest use the line "not like other girls" IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, IN A SUPPOSED LITERARY NOVEL, IN 2026. Like, are you kidding me?

The characters in this novel are all impossibly stupid and bad at their jobs -- one straight-up admits this before presumably being off-page fired by Interpol. If you like Competence Porn like The Pitt: well, this is the opposite of that. Yet despite everything displayed on-page, we're repeatedly told how brilliant the protagonist is. Uh huh.

This book is also packed with really gross fetishizations and normalizations of wealth: not only does the main character, who owns an apartment in the Upper West Side's Ansonia, seem to think she's middle class, the love interest's extreme wealth is painted as a major point in his favor when the romance is resolved (again, what year is it?). And these weren't the only things that left me feeling icky. Semple also follows that trope common to Marvel movies, etc., where the bad guys actually have a point about something (in this case, the repatriation of stolen art) but are just taking it too far (blowing up the art, which...huh?).

And I'm no art historian, but you really expect me to believe that the plot hinges on the Venus de Milo's actual arms being found and restored? REALLY?

Gently or otherwise: please just make it stop.

1.5 rounded down, because writing this made me madder.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Stoics aren't obvious fodder for comedy, but Maria Semple isn't your average comic novelist. Her novels have moments of laugh-out-loud brilliance, not surprising given her time spent on the magnificent TV series, "Arrested Development," but there is also an undercurrent of wistfulness and inchoate unease in her work. Such is the case with her welcome new novel, "Go Gentle," the title a reference to the Dylan Thomas poem in which he urges us not to go quietly, but to rage "against the dying of the light." The novel revolves around Adora Hazard, a bestselling philosopher who helps people try and live a serene life by following the wisdom of the Greek stoics. She has a teen daughter, female friends in her West Side apartment complex -- her self-proclaimed coven -- and two young kids she tutors who come from a family with more money than small nations. Life is calm, a little dull, until. . .she may have come across a dangerous arms deal and a peculiar Greek statue. And the screwball pyrotechnics commence. It's a delight -- but Semple is so smart that she never lets us forget the human stakes, and the real reason (which is devastating) behind our philosopher's tattoo.

[NILTON TEIXEIRA · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Go Gentle”, by Maria Semple

3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (great concept, terrific main character, some funny interactions, but the development of the story seems to have lost direction)

This was my second book by this author, after “Where'd You Go, Bernadette”, which I loved.

I was expecting the same level of entertainment.

The writing was really good and enjoyable, especially the author’s sense of humour, and I absolutely loved the main character and her interactions with the others.

The first 25% got me hooked right away, which only increased my expectations.

Although I loved the concept, I thought that the author lost focus or direction. There was just too much going on. I really wished she had kept focused on the coven plot, which I thought was very interesting. I would have skipped the romance part, if I could, but then I would have missed some good moments.

I did appreciate learning about stoic philosophy and I found it interesting.

Anyways, lots of topics and plenty of thought provoking ideas, but the development of the story was very uneven and a bit chaotic.

By the last 25% I had lost interest, but I persevered.

Honestly, I’m surprised that this was Oprah’s pick of the month. I could see Reese picking this title, but…

Anyways, never mind me, as there are plenty of wonderful 5 stars reviews.

[Angie Miale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is chaotic- with bizarre structure and pacing, it seems to break all the rules of contemporary fiction writing, and yet I loved it. The main character Adora refuses to be categorized, much like the genre. Plenty of twists, time jumps and character building at random.

Adora is an “in house philosopher” for a generational wealthy Manhattan elite family. She is a divorced woman who has lived through different “lifetimes” and is forever changed by the American landscape and the traumas she has overcome. I related to her on a visceral level- and my highlighter got a workout as I kept underlining and writing “THIS” in the margin.

My guess is it will be a Book of the Month selection.

This book won’t be universally loved, but please read it, especially if you meet the following;

-a lady over 40
-feminist
-interested is philosophy
-would like to be in a coven
-like reading about modern Manhattan

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for the ARC. Book to be published April 13, 2026.

[Lisa (NY)]

I listened to almost half of this novel but it wasn't for me. The zaniness felt forced.

[The Lit Homebody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grabbed it on a whim at the bookstore after the first paragraph hooked me. It truly surprised me and I absolutely loved it!

[abby :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you read the synopsis for this book and think you'll be prepared for what's to come, i promise you won't...

this author is very, very popular because of where'd you go bernadette, but i've never read that so i had no idea what to expect from this book. honestly requesting the arc feels like a very strange decision on my part but i will never read something like this again so it was worth it. from just the first ten percent, i was hooked on the uniqueness of semple's writing. her prose is so individual and i was glued to the page because i truly had no idea what was coming. i am 100% sure i did not read the synopsis because the words "arms deal" hit the page and i was gobsmacked.

at its core, this book is about adora and all the insane things she gets up to at her insane job as an in-house philosopher. we also learn about the coven she is creating, a bunch of single women in their 40s-60s living in an apartment building together and splitting costs, her relationship with her daughter, her past, and digby. what shocked me the most wasn't the black market, art history of it all, it was the chapters of adora as a comedy writer. that section of the novel felt completely separate from the rest and i don't totally know how to feel about some of the reveals we get about people from that time. i am looking at one nda lawyer specifically... i will never be able to form a solid opinion on him.

i will however, be thinking about this book forever. this may be because i genuinely cannot feel like i understood what i read, even as we got answers i was just so shocked at the overall plot that i couldn't focus on what was being told to me. this review feels weird because its so vague but if you're looking for a fiction novel that takes you on an insane ride, while also updating your knowledge on stoicism, this is your book. also reliving 2016 politics was not fun and did bring my stomach to my throat, the friend that told adora she would've divorced hal immediately for his joke, me too girl. adora inviting hal to the event in the end honestly threw me, get his weird ass outta here.

*thank you putnam and netgalley for the copy!*

[Christine Garrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maria Semple’s Go Gentle pulled me in immediately with the Dylan Thomas quote: “Do not go gentle into that good night.” It promises rebellion against aging, invisibility, and surrender, and in many ways that is exactly what this novel explores—though often in messier, stranger, and more frustrating ways than I expected.

The idea of the “coven” fascinated me right away: older women choosing to live together for practical and emotional survival because so many women never remarry after divorce or abandonment. There’s something both funny and deeply sad about how normalized this arrangement feels to them. The protagonist, Jo, seems almost startled by the possibility of romance when she meets a charming older man, only to discover their meeting was orchestrated so he could use her to deliver a letter to one of the women in the coven. Even late in life, women in this story are still expected to perform emotional labor for men.

The novel then circles back through Jo’s earlier life: her ambitions as a television writer, the sexual assault that derails her career, the NDA that silences her, and the quieter collapse that follows. Eventually she rebuilds herself as a philosophy professor, wife, and mother, only to have her husband leave her for another family. What struck me most is how calmly she absorbs these betrayals. I kept wanting her to rage more openly at the unfairness of it all, but perhaps that resignation is part of the point. Women are so often conditioned to accommodate, smooth things over, and survive rather than explode.

No matter where Jo goes, misogyny follows. Hollywood, academia, marriage, family life—it simply changes outfits. What frustrated me as a reader was also what made the book feel painfully recognizable: Jo constantly reshapes herself to fit what others expect from her. Yet I understood her too well. Existing as a woman in the world often means learning how to endure things you should never have had to tolerate in the first place.

The family tensions surrounding the 2016 election also felt sharply real. Semple captures how political divisions expose deeper beliefs about gender, power, and whose voices society is willing to trust. The book quietly argues that the patriarchy survives not because it is subtle, but because it is exhausting.

As the story moves toward France and the increasingly bizarre revelations surrounding the letter and Jo’s late-life romance, the novel becomes almost absurd in ways I struggled to fully believe. Still, beneath the chaos is a woman finally beginning to admit she wants love, dignity, and connection instead of merely settling for survival. Some of Jo’s worst moments—especially how she lashes out at her daughter—feel less like cruelty and more like desperation from someone trying to convince herself that wisdom and intellect can compensate for emotional emptiness.

In the end, Go Gentle is funny, uncomfortable, maddening, and strangely compassionate. It’s about how women adapt themselves to survive systems that rarely reward them for authenticity, and how easy it becomes to mistake endurance for fulfillment. The novel’s final emotional honesty hit harder for me than its twists. Maybe the real message is not simply to “rage against the dying of the light,” but to recognize that love, anger, pride, and vulnerability are still worth claiming at any age. Or, as my late grandmother who was born in 1920 often said, “don’t be kind unless it is fitting.”

[Michael Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finding Too Many Paths

“Go Gentle” follows Adora Hazzard, a divorcée and Stoic philosopher whose carefully ordered life in New York is upended by a handsome stranger, romance, and international intrigue.

While Maria Semple's novel is bursting with her trademark wit and funny lines, its greatest flaw is a wildly scattered plot that incorporates too many disparate ideas. The book is a blend of a philosophical treatise on Stoicism, a goofy mid-life romantic comedy, a story about a "coven" of middle-aged women in Manhattan, and an international art heist thriller.

The narrative is marred by frustratingly erratic shifts between its various plotlines, suggesting the author pursued too many competing directions. Early on, the story of Adora forming a "coven" is quite compelling, yet it eventually fades away, overshadowed by a screwball mystery that clashes awkwardly with a dense, 80-page flashback about a serious past trauma. This lack of focus often left me bewildered, questioning if I was even reading the same book I had begun.

In the end, the book feels like a chaotic three-ring circus. Although I thoroughly enjoyed large portions of the narrative—often laughing out loud at Semple’s biting, eccentric wit—the dizzying journey makes it difficult for the story to truly come together, despite a clever resolution to the main plot.

Thank you to G. P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #GoGentle #NetGalley

[Kerrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

review to come

[Shannon Cox · Rating 1 out of 5]

What on earth did I just read? I have no idea what this book was about. There were so many plots trying to intertwine. I wanted to DNF this book so many times but I was reading it for a book club. My friend is hosting in a week so I wanted to be sure to finish it. Had it not been for this book club, there is no possible way I would’ve ever finished this book. It is that bad. Maybe it was the writing. Maybe it was the author’s constant need for everyone to know that she was a raging liberal. Don’t forget to write that you’re going to Chick-fil-A but you hate them because of the politics. So stupid. The main character was a self-righteous, narcissistic, unlikable twat. And her daughter, who learned from the best, was the same personality, but a whiney teenage stereotypical version. Selfish and emotional. After her mother described her sexual assault, her response was… Can we go now? The love interest was boring. The constant need to speak French to show everyone how cultured the author is and how much she knew about Paris was laughable. How on earth did Oprah decide this was a book club read ? Maybe because she is also a Trump hater and so she wanted to feel connected to other Trump haters and it was a whole chapter about why she divorced her husband and it all had to do with Trump. Even though her husband did not vote for Trump! What did this have to do with the storyline anyway? Why did politics even need to be intertwined? So far I have read about three dozen books in 2026 and this is literally at the bottom of the barrel. Absolute garbage. So sad I will not get this time back in my life that I wasted reading this piece of crap book. It’s like she had an idea for four different books with four different plots and then decided that she didn’t have time to write them all so she would make them into one story. I don’t know why I’m so furious with myself for finishing this book, but I truly am. 😂😂.

[cyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. This book was messy to say the least and not in the fun way. There was way to much going on and way to many topics the author attempted to cover but unfortunately none of them landed. This felt very millennial and i am not that so maybe this just wasn’t for me? To be fair I didn’t like where’d you go bernadette either and only requested this book because the cover was cool. I did like the parts with her daughter but the overall plot was confusing for more reason. I wanted way more coven way less gun trade.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding! Intrigue, mystery, humor, philosophy and huge art deals.

Basics: New York City
The Ansonia
Former comedy writer
Current Philosopher (professor and moral tutor for young twin boys of wealthy family.
Divorced and not looking for a mate.
Sex is naturally acceptable with a willing partner.

Adora Hazzard works for the wealthy Lockwood family in NYC as a moral tutor to their twin sons and at their Lockwood Museum. Layla and Lionel are old money New Yorkers trying to do their part for the art world on the Upper West Side.

Lionel was seriously injured in a climbing accident and is in a wheelchair with limited mobility. Layla tries to do everything possible to make her husband’s life more interesting. That includes a total remodel of their townhouse into a glass structure complete with elevators and a tunnel under the street to their museum.

Layla has plans to purchase and ship an ancient statue from France to their home in the US. Suspicions are aroused by this unknown statue and the French woman they’re purchasing it from. She is on the Board of the Louvre plus her father was instrumental in getting art pieces back from the trove of art stolen by the Nazis.

Adora somehow meets a man at the ballet that might be involved in this deal and has a night of wild, wonderful sex with him. Ravi, a curator for the museum is the most suspicious.

The story moves quickly with characters involved in many aspects of the art world and fabulous quotes by ancient philosophers. No one is who they appear to be. Fun! Kept me guessing to the last sentence.


Thanks Edelweiss and Atria.

[michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would with how the parts and pacing is split up, It’s not so much a mid life crisis but more like a story line of how we grow as women and the situations that we get into which shape us and our future self. Adora embodies life.

[Christopher Febles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of the cult favorite Where'd You Go, Bernadette returns to form with a twisty, philosophical thriller/romance/retrospective/find-yourself tale.

As you see from the tagline, I have no idea how to categorize this thing. But if you loved that banger in Bernadette, you were waiting with bated breath for this one.

Adora Hazzard has a weird job: family philosopher. She teaches Stoicism et al to the Lockwood twins. They’re the twelve-year-old heirs to the Lockwood fortune, the holders of the famous Lockwood Library and priceless artifacts in a palatial estate on Fifth Avenue, or what they call “The Museum Mile.” A recent divorcee, she lives just across Central Park in a classic apartment building, on a floor where three women support each other financially and spiritually, a setting she calls “The Coven.” She has a past that includes a comedy-writing career that was cut short by a disgusting #metoo-inspired incident and a lucrative NDA. Philosophy was the happy pivot from that turbulent life.



One day, waiting in line for the ballet, a mysterious, “gorg” stranger buys her extra ticket. One thing leads to another which leads to a hot and steamy romance. But Mr. TD&H turns out to be some sort of agent involved in a dangerous scandal with her employers, one that threatens precious artifacts…and lives.

Adora might be Semple’s best-written character yet. Yes, the backstory has its own chapter and takes us away from the riveting plot, but it’s a good one. Her monologue is chock-full of wonderful quotes from the classic thinkers, snippets of wisdom that’ll have you nodding and agreeing. She’ll make Stoicism clearer than ever (and yes, the title comes from the famous Dylan Thomas poem). She’s brilliant, tough, and both an underdog and an everywoman. I thought some aspects of her life connected less with the plot than others, but I liked her nonetheless. And her superpower is making sense of the insane and taking life’s slings and arrows with grace and strength.

Thus, she’s a terrific protagonist for this wild, crazy caper. The challenge Adora faces is scaffolded around high fashion, eight-figure philanthropy, and how ancient statues are acquired. All topics of which I have little knowledge, and hence I found following the clues to the mystery a little difficult.

That said, the golden goose chase is as fun and globe-trotting as Bernadette’s. Looks to me like Adora and her 21st Century teen daughter Viv stayed in the same place I did on my trip to Paris! Her banter with love interest Digby is snappy and intelligent, just as you’d expect. Her encounters seem random at first, but later fit perfectly in the plot jigsaw puzzle. The later chapters have some exciting reveals, one after another, that build a big crescendo. Sure, the denouement is a little Scooby-Doo: everything pulls together at a big fancy party, but it’s a nice reward for a likeable MC.

Of course, the snarky, witty, sarcastic, absurdist tone from Semple’s earlier work is there, and maybe better than ever. It’s not the slapstick humor you find in the Stephanie Plum series, but it warms the action and will get a wry grin out of you.

Hey, looks like our buddy with the Bernadette fame is back! Go Gentle is a sharp, pithy, dizzying ride into a contemplative and intriguing world.

Thanks to Putnam Books and NetGalley for a free advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Publication date for Go Gentle by Maria Semple is April 14, 2026.

[Lindsay L]

DNF @ 40%

This is not a good fit for me. I like the idea of divorced and/or widowed women buying apartments in same buildings to create a network of support. However, the other parts of the plot - extreme artsy focus, forced cheesy humour and strange sexual descriptions - didn’t work for me. I did not like any of the characters. I am not the right reader.

Audio rating: 3.5 stars. The audio narrator was decent enough but some voice changes sounded awkward. The audio narrator did not enhance anything for me. I suggest the physical version if you’re going to try this one out.

[Athena A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I thought this was a silly story about middle-aged, upper-middle-class women creating community in NYC (part 1, strong start). And then I read that the author went to Barnard (as did I) and it even made MORE sense! And then it got wild and thrilling (part 2). And then it got upsetting and horrible and biographic (part 3) but still darkly funny at times. Some skippable sections.

Overall, we’re living in the brain of a philosopher barreling into the chaos of a transnational scheme… I felt like this book took on a lot and could have consistently leaned more into mystery/romance or weird girl lit fic or focused on the femme relationships better. Does this even pass the Bechdel test?

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam Books for this ARC.

[Britany · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up for GR

This book had all the makings of a favorite and then jumped the shark a bit on the end. A fifty something, best dressed Queen, teacher of philosophy and leader of the Ansonia Coven - what dreams are made of. I was hoping it would focus more on the coven parts, but I enjoyed the quips and the sharp writing. I was cackling the first third and found myself talking about this book to everyone I ran into. Then we moved into Part 3 about Adora (best character name EVER) growing up as a comedy writer on Laugh Riot and SNL-esque show, gave us the background and then ended up involved in #RichPeopleProblems in an art heist in Paris.

This was a little all over the place for it to land as strong as it took off, and I'm not sure where we were going by the end. Adora Hazzard won my heart in the beginning and dropped me off at the bus shelter by the end.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

[angelinabvby ۶۟ৎ {rest in peace estie} · Rating 4 out of 5]

🌸˚˖⋆ ──★ "𝕀𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕖 𝕚𝕥. 𝔼𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕥.”

a witty, weird, & wonderful exploration of womanhood. unhinged boomer adora hazzard had me cracking up, annoyed as hell, and wanting to hug the shit outta her. the way she employs stoicism to her chaotic life is the exact reason why i study philosophy. and that ending...WHEW!! excuse me as i go binge maria semple's backlist 💃

[Lauren W · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Hmm. I loved the beginning portion of this story and wish the entire plot continued in this space. The story is divided into different parts of Adora’s life, which feels quite disjointed. What started as an all-consuming interest turned into a lukewarm art-heist/mystery/ truly am not sure what genre??

[Donna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mishmash mess.

[Monica Hills · Rating 4 out of 5]

From philosophy to romance to politics to mystery, this was a story that grew on me. At first all of the philosophy talk and Adora's job made the book drag a little for me. However as I kept reading I was drawn in as I learned about Adora's past and what she went through. As the book progressed to the end, I did not want to stop reading to find out what was going to happen.

When we first meet Adora she is a philosopher working for a prominent New York City family. She likes her life and when she meets a man at the ballet things slowly take a turn. The novel flashes to the past where we learn about Adora's time as a screen writer. This is where the book really hooked me. The book returns to the present where we learn of a possible conspiracy and art theft. Adora also has the possibility of a new romance on the line.

There were not really chapters in this book but it was written in parts. I did not mind this style and it did make sense when I think about the story as a whole. Adora was an interesting character who went through a lot. There were some wise quotes and I actually enjoyed learning a little more about philosophy. The ending is what made this book. It is definitely hard to classify exactly what this books is but I can say that it is a good story.

Thank you to G. P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin Random House and NetGalley for this ARC.

[Ayshwarya · Rating 2 out of 5]

What am I missing here? This book feels like a trip and not in a good way. The author had 3 plots and maybe not enough time so she decided to just merge them all?

I guess I liked the philosophy elements. There was not nearly enough coven (for future reference I would read a whole book just about a coven)

Also, Oprah book club? Really? How?!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Where’d You Go Bernadette’ was good because it was funny, serious and sad. ‘Go Gentle’ is all that, but it is also silly and all over the place. It was a bit too much for me to be honest.
Thank you Penguin US and Edelweiss for the ARC.