Oprah picks 'Go Gentle'

Oprah Winfrey has picked Maria Semple’s new novel *Go Gentle* for Oprah’s Book Club, putting the book at the center of one of publishing’s biggest reader platforms. (apnews.com) Oprah announced the selection on April 14, 2026, and Oprah.com lists *Go Gentle* as Book Club pick No. 122 and the club’s April 2026 choice. (oprah.com 1) (oprah.com 2) The novel was published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons on April 14, 2026, in a 384-page hardcover edition with a listed price of $30.00. (penguinrandomhouse.com) Semple’s publisher says the story follows Adora Hazzard, a Stoic philosopher and divorced mother on Manhattan’s Upper West Side whose ordered life is disrupted by a chance meeting, secret rendezvous, art deals and the return of her past. (penguinrandomhouse.com) Oprah’s Book Club selections can sharply widen a novel’s audience because the club has been a major force in American book sales since it began in 1996 as part of *The Oprah Winfrey Show*. (britannica.com) (oprah.com) The pick also gives Semple a new national spotlight more than a decade after *Where’d You Go, Bernadette* became her best-known novel and was adapted into a 2019 film directed by Richard Linklater. (britannica.com) (imdb.com) Oprah.com describes *Go Gentle* as a “gripping page turner,” and CBS said Winfrey announced the choice on *CBS Mornings* and released a free excerpt and reader’s guide alongside the selection. (oprah.com) (cbsnews.com 1) (cbsnews.com 2) Semple’s own site had already listed *Go Gentle* as a “Most Anticipated Book of 2026,” with mentions from outlets including *The New York Times*, *The Washington Post* and *Time* before Oprah’s endorsement arrived. (mariasemple.com) For readers, the immediate effect is simple: a novel that hit stores on April 14 now arrives with Oprah’s seal on the same day, a combination publishers often chase because it can move a new release from literary buzz into mass-market conversation. (penguinrandomhouse.com) (apnews.com)