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Go Gentle
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Go Gentle

By: Maria Semple
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About this listen

'I ADORED THIS NOVEL' NINA STIBBE
'LOADED WITH MARIA SEMPLE'S SIGNATURE WIT' BONNIE GARMUS

Adora Hazzard has it all figured out.

A Stoic philosopher and contented divorcée, she relishes her teenage daughter, her job as a moral tutor for an old-money family, and the bliss of finally being solo.

She's also quietly assembling a 'coven' of like-minded single women on the sixth floor of the legendary Ansonia building on New York's Upper West Side. Together, they share groceries, dog walkers - and one dirty little secret: despite their age, they're only just getting started.

Adora's life philosophy is simple: want only what you already have. It's her secret to happiness until a chance encounter with a charming stranger stirs long-buried passions.

Soon, her carefully curated life unravels: black-market art, secret rendezvous, international intrigue and a past she's worked hard to forget crash into her present. Suddenly, Adora finds herself wanting more and she's willing to risk everything to get it.

Go Gentle is a thrilling story of one woman's mid-life transformation, a romance with wit, a page-turner of ideas, a globe-trotting mother-daughter story, all wrapped in a mystery with a sicko twist.

©2026 Maria Semple (P)2026 Hachette UK Limited Genre Fiction Literary Fiction

Critic Reviews

Semple has created something rare in Go Gentle: a story that's both deeply intellectual and still accessible. This novel is what happens when someone who understands trauma writes about healing. Smart, funny, and devastating in a great way. Read this book (Jennette McCurdy, bestselling author of I'm Glad My Mom Died)
Highly original and loaded with Maria Semple's signature wit, Go Gentle takes us on a fast, wild ride through the days and nights of a philosopher for whom the meaning of life - and how to get through it - is completely upended by the one thing she never saw coming. Love (Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry)
I adored this novel and it made me very happy. Go Gentle combines Semple's giant intellect, genius thinking, rich, witty dialogue and screwall comedy. Brimming with big ideas about art and philosophy and questions about the way we live our lives, this is an intricately plotted mystery, intrigue and romance with a glorious cast of characters (Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina)
This is the kind of book I dream of. Hilarious, urbane, touching but never sentimental and just brilliantly plotted. It's about so many things - art world shenanigans, toxic Hollywood writer rooms, stoic philosophers, and above all, love, love, love. Maria Semple graces her readers with the intrigue, wisdom and belly laughs we deserve (Gary Shteyngart, author of Vera, or Faith and Our Country Friends)
Manic and frank, playful and wise, Go Gentle rampages through reality, giving us glimpses into Hollywood writer's rooms, the lives of the fabulously wealthy New York elite, art heists and philosophical debates, but perhaps most preciously it allows us to glimpse a vision of cronehood as empowering and sexy and fun. Adora Hazzard is a heroine for the ages (Rufi Thorpe, author of Margo’s Got Money Troubles)
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