Maria Semple knows all the dirty little secrets of midlife!

About this episode

Maria Semple discusses her new book and the realities of midlife transformation.

My guest this week is Maria Semple the author of one of my favourite books of all time, Where’d you go bernadette,. Once encountered, Bernadette Fox is never forgotten. I wasn’t alone, Bernadette was translated into 40 languages, sold over 200k copies in the UK alone, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize and was made into a movie starring Cate Blanchett. Maria, who was previously a TV writer for Saturday Night Live and Arrested Development, amongst others, has written two other novels, and is now back with a fourth, Go Gentle. Already an Oprah Bookclub pick, it’s A story of midlife transformation, mothers, daughters, art theft, stoicism and Upper West side covens! Yes, you heard that right. Like all her books, Go Gentle is stuffed full of home truths and big ideas, and it’s riotously snortingly funny. I met Maria on a flying visit to the UK at her publisher’s office overlooking the thames to talk about midlife’s dirty little secret, the freedom she found post-divorce, the joy of not having to ask permission and doing a geographical. We also discussed why midlife is a time of metabolisation (is that a word?) How stoicism kept her sane when her coping mechanisms packed up and why…

People in this episode

Host: Sam Baker

Guest: Maria Semple

Topics covered

• midlife transformation
• personal growth
• women's experiences
• humor
• literature

Keywords

• midlife
• transformation
• humor
• women
• literature
• stoicism
• personal growth

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Oprah Bookclub

Books & works: Where’d you go bernadette, Go Gentle

Places: Upper West side, UK, Thames

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