Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | This One Is Mine | 2008 | Maria Semple | Buy |
| 2 | Where’d You Go, Bernadette | 2012 | Maria Semple | Buy |
| 3 | Today Will Be Different | 2016 | Maria Semple | Buy |
| 4 | Go Gentle | 2026 | Maria Semple | Buy |
Maria Semple’s standalone novels share a comedic sensibility and an interest in characters who are too smart or too odd for the lives they’ve ended up in. This One Is Mine follows a music executive’s wife having a breakdown in Los Angeles. Where’d You Go, Bernadette pieces together a missing woman’s story through found documents. Today Will Be Different follows a day in the life of a woman whose plans for self-improvement immediately go sideways.
Each novel is formally inventive in some way — epistolary structure, fragmented timelines, mixed media — reflecting Semple’s restless creativity and her background in television writing, where format experimentation is second nature.