But when Calvin dies, Elizabeth is left as a single (unwed!) mom, and sexism continue to impede her ability to earn money or move forward in the world. So she ends up as a researcher at a small institute in California, where she unexpectedly falls in love with Calvin Evans, the institute’s brightest and most eccentric researcher. She would be a PhD., except for-well, you know, she’s a woman in science in the 1960s. This is a sad yet hopeful story that made me laugh and cry, and sometimes those are the best.Įlizabeth Zott is a chemist.

She’s laser-focused on the unfairness of life-not just in terms of institutional sexism but also the way in which life robs us of the ones we love the most. But Bonnie Garmus is on a mission in this book. It is quite a literary novel, full of narrative tricks and idiosyncrasies and enough contrived character circumstances to make John Irving or Heather O’Neill jealous. Born in California and most recently from Seattle, she currently lives in London with her husband and her dog, 99.My bestie Rebecca lent this to me, and I am glad she did-I don’t think I would have picked it up otherwise, and that would have been my loss. She’s an open-water swimmer, a rower, and mother to two pretty amazing daughters. She’s daring them to change the status quo.Ībout the Author: Bonnie Garmus is a copywriter and creative director who has worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education.

Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. 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. True chemistry results.īut like science, life is unpredictable. Except for one: Calvin Evans the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with–of all things–her mind. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. Lessons in Chemistry is set in 1960s California and features the singular voice of Chemist Elizabeth Zott, a scientist whose career takes an unexpected detour.

Join us for a dazzlingly entertaining virtual chat with author Bonnie Garmus as she discusses her debut New York Times bestselling novel Lessons in Chemistry.

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Lessons in chemistry by bonnie garmus