Standalone Novels
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| This One Is Mine | 2008 | Buy |
| Where’d You Go, Bernadette | 2012 | Buy |
| Today Will Be Different | 2016 | Buy |
| Go Gentle | 2026 | Buy |
Maria Semple worked as a television writer on shows including Mad About You, Arrested Development, and Ellen before turning to fiction. Her TV background shows in her novels, which have sharp comic timing, ensemble casts, and a knack for satirizing specific social milieus.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette became a word-of-mouth hit for its inventive format — the story is told almost entirely through emails, memos, and official documents — and its portrait of a gifted woman suffocating in suburban Seattle. Semple’s other novels explore similar territory: smart, restless people trapped in lives that don’t quite fit them, told with humor that doesn’t shy away from darker emotions.