Elizabeth Zott is teaching women chemistry through a TV cooking show.
It's the 1960s and prevented from doing what she really wants to do - be a chemist - due to her gender, Zott ends up cast as a TV personality. But she's not just showing average housewives how to cook dinner; she's empowering them.
That's really more the second half of Bonnie Garmus' Lessons in Chemistry. The first half of the book leads you up to Zott's cooking show, detailing her attempt at getting a PhD (and her professor's attempt at raping her), her romance with a fellow male chemist (the only male who actually listened to her), the competition among working women (to find a husband and get a promotion), and her need to make her own money as a single mother.
Much of the book also has to do with Zott's boyfriend, Calvin Evans, a fellow scientist and rower. His background is just as important, especially as everything comes full circle at the end of the novel.
This book was so clever and quirky and amusing and entertaining. I loved how unapologetic Zott was, standing up for herself and her daughter, and not being afraid to go up against societal norms. I also loved how all the characters, even ones you might think are minor, came together. This reminded me of a Fredrik Backman novel only without tears.
Lessons in Chemistry is published by Doubleday and is available to purchase now. I received a free e-ARC.
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