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2023 Longlist

Lessons in Chemistry

ABOUT
THE BOOK

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with – of all things – her mind. True chemistry results. Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (‘combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride’) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

 

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Bonnie
Garmus

Bonnie Garmus is a copywriter and creative director who has worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education. She is an open-water swimmer, a rower, and mother to two wonderful daughters.

Born in California and most recently from Seattle, she currently lives in London with her husband and her dog, 99. Her first novel, Lessons in Chemistry is a No.1 Sunday Times, New York Times and international bestseller. It has been translated into over thirty-five languages and is being adapted as an Apple TV series starring Brie Larson.

Bonnie Garmus is a copywriter and creative director who has worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education. She is an open-water swimmer, a rower, and mother to two wonderful daughters.

Born in California and most recently from Seattle, she currently lives in London with her husband and her dog, 99. Her first novel, Lessons in Chemistry is a No.1 Sunday Times, New York Times and international bestseller. It has been translated into over thirty-five languages and is being adapted as an Apple TV series starring Brie Larson.

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

Author Bonnie Garmus provides an original storyline that is refreshing, humorous, and very timely. Based in the 1950s and 1960s, the narrator is a smart, witty female working in a male dominated field that places women at a disadvantage. Unexpectedly she lands a cooking show called Supper at Six which becomes a platform for conveying a deeper message of perseverance and gender equality.

-Miami-Dade Public Library

Nothing about Elizabeth is conventional and this definitely isn’t a nostalgic look back at the 1950s by any stretch of the imagination!  This is a brilliant story – of a woman who is determined to make her mark on the world and not willing to let anyone get in her way. She’s feisty, heroic, and intelligent, and she unwittingly becomes the star of a TV cookery show, aimed at teaching the nation how to make food that matters. The show becomes a call to arms to the millions of women who follow her ‘lessons in chemistry’ encouraging all to ‘use the laws of chemistry and change the status quo.’

The relationships throughout this book are so well drawn. We hope – like us – you’ll enjoy every minute of the book and immediately want to tell everyone you know to read it too! 

-Norfolk Library and Information Service

Great story of women empowerment set in the 1960’s.

– Laramie County Library System

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
02/03/2023
Country
US
Author
Publisher
Penguin Random House

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