“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 womans 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 divorce, she lives a contented life on New York Citys Upper West Side. Having discovered that the secret to happiness is to desire only what you have, shes 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. Shes even assembled a “coven”like-minded women who live on the same floor in the legendary Ansoniaand is making active efforts to grow its membership. Adoras 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 pastwhich she has worked so hard to burylands like a bomb in her present. Inflamed by unquenchable desire, Adora finds herself a woman wanting more: and shell risk everything to get it.

Adora Hazzards 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 womans mid-life transformation, cementing Maria Semple in the pantheon of our most exciting and important contemporary writers.