Lessons in Chemistry
The modern classic multi-million-copy bestseller
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4.5 • 210 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
THE FUNNY AND INSPIRING, MULTI-AWARD-WINNING BESTSELLER WITH MORE THAN 8 MILLION COPIES SOLD, now a major Apple TV+ series starring Brie Larson
A Book of the Year for: Guardian, Times, Sunday Times, New York Times, Good House Keeping, Woman & Home, Stylist, TLS Oprah Daily, Newsweek, Mail on Sunday, NPR, India Knight, Hay Festival, Waterstones, Amazon, Books Are My Bag, and many more!
'The most charming, life-enhancing novel’ Sunday Times
'Funny, thought-provoking and stylish' Guardian
‘The best book I've read recently. I loved it’ - SARA COX, BBC 2 Between the Covers
‘Everyone needs to read this’ 5-star reader review
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A woman ahead of her time.
But exactly right for ours
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, she 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.
Like science, life is unpredictable. Forced to leave her job at the institute, Elizabeth Zott soon finds herself 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. One molecule at a time.
__________
A New York Times ‘Top 100 Best Books of the 21st Century’ Reader's Pick
Author of the Year at the British Book Awards
Author of the Year, Waterstones
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Best Debut Novel Award
Winner of the Books are My Bag Reader's Choice Award
Winner of the Books are My Bag Breakthrough Author Award
Shortlisted for the HWA Crown Award
PRAISE FOR LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY:
'Laugh-out-loud funny and brimming with life, generosity and courage' Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Homemade God
‘Full of humour, heartbreak and characters who feel like real people’ Red Magazine
‘Page-turning and highly satisfying’ – Maggie Shipstead, bestselling author of Great Circle
'I loved Lessons in Chemistry and am devastated to have finished it!' Nigella Lawson
'A novel that sparks joy with every page' Elizabeth Day, bestselling author of Magpie
'Witty and sometimes hilarious ... the Catch-22 of early feminism' Stephen King
‘A beautiful, sharp, funny and dark modern classic. I adored it' Chris Whitaker, bestselling author of All the Colours of the Dark
‘The best book that I have read this year – a funny, warm, unique book’ 5-star reader review
‘Witty, poignant, clever, brilliantly plotted…believe the hype’ 5-star reader review
‘Funny, honest and heart-wrenching this book had me hooked until the end.’ 5-star reader review
Lessons in Chemistry has sold over 8 million copies worldwide across all formats, People, January 2025
Front cover may vary
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A fiery encounter with another parent leads to a drastic career change for chemist Elizabeth Zott, who finds herself the unlikely host of a hit TV cooking show. Unconventional and fiercely intelligent, Elizabeth relishes the chance to subvert the notion that “a woman’s place is in the kitchen” in front of a national audience. Bonnie Garmus’ debut novel playfully probes the cultural stereotypes of its 1960s setting as Elizabeth challenges her viewers to change the status quo. In single mother Elizabeth, Garmus has crafted a vibrant and unforgettable heroine—a role model for self-determination who will have you cheering for her success. The story is clever and uplifting, and the writing wonderfully deft. At its core is a message of ambition, capability and self-acceptance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Garmus debuts with a perplexing feminist fairy tale set in 1960s Southern California. Plucky chemist Elizabeth Zott believes she's not like other women ("Most of the women she'd met in college claimed they were only there to get their MRS," Garmus writes. "It was disconcerting, as if they'd all drunk something that had rendered them temporarily insane"). She proceeds to fall madly in love with her colleague, have his child, and then, after being sidelined by double standards, sexual harassment, and scandal around her pregnancy, she's dismissed from her job and becomes an overnight sensation as the host of a daytime cooking show. This trajectory, and its few tragedies, are intermittently interrupted by the anthropomorphized thoughts of her dog, Six-Thirty: "Humans were strange, Six-Thirty thought, the way they constantly battled dirt in their aboveground world, but after death willingly entombed themselves in it." In the end, everything works out—not because the patriarchy is destroyed or fairness is achieved, but thanks to the favors of a rich female benefactor equipped to strike back at those who humiliated Zott. While the scenes of Zott hosting her show do have their charm, the overall effect is about as deep as a Hallmark card. The author has a great voice, but contemporary readers will be left wondering who this is for.
Customer Reviews
Riveting! Cover to cover.
I could not put Lessons in Chemistry down. I enjoyed this book, the pace, the characters, the humour, the outrage and the turns. One of my favourite books now. I am eagerly awaiting the TV adaptation this October.
Lessons in chemistry
So so clever. And sad and funny. Loved it.