Adora Hazzard is a funny, intelligent woman who has experienced some significant bumps in life. As a young television comedy writer, she landed her dream job, rolled with the boys club atmosphere and rules, yet fell victim to sexual politics at a time prior to #MeToo. Coming home to Connecticut and her mom, she gradually found her feet with the discovery of Stoic philosophy. She often quotes the big three Roman Stoics: Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. Stoic philosophy provides an excellent approach to the trials and tribulations of life, emphasizing the space between event and reaction, which is your thoughts about the event. By controlling only what you are able to control, your interpretation of an event, you are able to react with calm and composure, even in stressful circumstances. Stoics encouraged the development of the virtues: courage, wisdom, justice, temperance. She is so taken with philosophical study, she pursues her doctorate, and meets her future husband and father of her daughter.

A good portion of the novel is given over to Adora’s backstory, as it all proves quite important for the reader to know, if they are to understand her responses to what happens in her midlife, when earlier events will ultimately reappear in unexpected ways. Adora is hired by Layla Lockwood, to help her wealthy husband regain a positive attitude toward life after a catastrophic injury. Adora also tutors their twin boys, teaching Stoicism to father and sons. After a sad divorce, Adora and her teenaged daughter Viv are living on the upper west side of Manhattan, the position with the Lockwood family making for a comfortable life. Adora sees herself riding out life in this manner, no need for further romantic entanglements.

As Stoics will tell you, much of life is beyond one’s control, as Adora is soon to learn. She will be forced to deal with a wild set of unpredictable events, testing her Stoic bona fides to the limit. What is the correct response to love, the deepest, most threatening event of all? Adora will be forced to reconcile with past and present, in order to build a happy future.

The character of Adora Hazzard might remind the reader of Elizabeth Zott from Bonnie Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry, or even Bernadette Fox from Semple’s earlier novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette? These are all funny, intelligent women who are blindsided by cruel life circumstances, and find their own unique ways to reestablish equilibrium, and forge ahead with life. They each have character flaws that serve to make adjustment challenging, but are smart enough to take a step back and learn from mistakes. Go Gentle introduces many characters who may be more than challenging for the reader to keep track of—Semple does a reasonable job, but I did get a bit confused at times about who’s on first. Whatever snags the reader has with multitudinous characters and the twisty plot are more than made up for by the creation of Adora Hazzard. Highly recommend this novel, as well as her previous work, reviewed here (https://www.margueritereads.com/home/whered-you-go-bernadette-by-maria-semple?rq=maria%20semple) .