Oprah Winfrey

with so many of you readers along for the ride who also find joy in reading as much as I do.

I'm honored to host one of the largest and longest running book clubs in the country, and that's entirely thanks to all of you.

I appreciate you so much.

The author of my 122nd pick,

Go Gentle is a writer who can create a page-turner, y'all, mixed with painful life challenges and hysterical laugh-out-loud comedy.

Yes, her books have sold millions of copies.

Welcome, Maria Simple.

Hello.

Hello.

Maria Simple is the New York Times mega bestselling author of Today Will Be Different, This One Is Mine, and Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, which became a movie in 2019 starring Cate Blanchett.

Before becoming a novelist, Maria wrote for iconic television comedies like Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, and Mad About You.

Her fourth novel, Go Gentle, follows the main character, Adora, a divorced single mother living in the Big Apple whose cheerful determination to live a life of the mind is turned upside down by her heart.

It's been 10 years since your last novel.

Yes.

We've been waiting.

Your devoted readers have been patiently waiting.

Tell us about writing this.

Stoicism as a philosophy, because I wasn't even familiar with stoicism until I read this book and then I went and got other books about stoicism.

Okay, so you, Maria Simple, became a Stoic.

Meaning taking on this philosophy of living.