Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus | Multi-Award-Winning Bestseller (Paperback)

She Was a Chemist. They Made Her a Cook. She Changed Everything.

"The most charming, life-enhancing novel" — Sunday Times  |  "The Catch-22 of early feminism" — Stephen King

Lessons in Chemistry is the funny, inspiring, and fiercely original debut novel by Bonnie Garmus — a multi-award-winning international bestseller with over 8 million copies sold worldwide, and now a major Apple TV+ series starring Brie Larson.

About the Book

It's the early 1960s. Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman — and she would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. A brilliant chemist at Hastings Research Institute, she works in a world of men who take a very unscientific view of equality.

Except for one: Calvin Evans — lonely, brilliant, Nobel-Prize-nominated, and the only man who falls in love with, of all things, her mind.

But life, like science, is unpredictable. Forced out of her job, Elizabeth finds herself the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Her approach is unconventional: "Combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride." Her following grows. And not everyone is happy — because Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo. One molecule at a time.

Awards & Recognition

• Goodreads Choice Award — Best Debut Novel
• British Book Awards — Author of the Year
• Waterstones — Author of the Year
• New York Times Top 100 Best Books of the 21st Century — Reader's Pick
• Book of the Year: Guardian, Sunday Times, New York Times, Oprah Daily, NPR and many more

What Readers & Critics Say

• "Laugh-out-loud funny and brimming with life, generosity and courage" — Rachel Joyce
• "A novel that sparks joy with every page" — Elizabeth Day
• "Witty, poignant, clever, brilliantly plotted — believe the hype" — 5-star reader review
• "I loved it and am devastated to have finished it" — Nigella Lawson

Book Details

• Author: Bonnie Garmus
• Publisher: Penguin Random House
• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: 9781804990926
• Genre: Literary Fiction / Historical Fiction / Feminist Fiction

A woman ahead of her time. But exactly right for ours.