Lessons in Chemistry (B&N Exclusive Edition) (2022 B&N Book of the Year)

by Bonnie Garmus

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

All’s fair in love and chemistry. It’s 1960s California and there are certain things that women just don’t do. When scientist Elizabeth Zott finds herself the host of a television cooking show, she kicks off a revolution that does more than just challenge the status quo. You will fall in love with the cast of characters in this dazzling debut.

This Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition includes an extra chapter, designed endpapers, and an interview with Elizabeth Zott, the main character.

Meet 2022's most incomparable protagonist! This blockbuster debut set in 1960s California features the singular voice of Elizabeth Zott, a scientist whose career takes a detour when she becomes the star of a beloved TV cooking show.

“It's the world versus Elizabeth Zott, an extraordinary woman determined to live on her own terms, and I had no trouble choosing a side…A page-turning and highly satisfying tale: zippy, zesty, and Zotty.”—Maggie Shipstead, best-selling author of Great Circle

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 as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes 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.

But 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.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385549400
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/05/2022
Edition description:	B&N Exclusive Edition
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	394,351
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

BONNIE GARMUS is a copywriter and creative director who has worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education. She’s an open-water swimmer, a rower, and mother to two pretty amazing daughters. Born in California and most recently from Seattle, she currently lives in London with her husband and her dog, 99.

Editorial Reviews

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF THE YEAR
—New York Times, Bustle, Real Simple, Parade, CNN, Today, E! News, Library Journal

"Strikingly relevant...Darkly funny and poignant...Lessons in Chemistry’s excellent experiment [is] quirky and heartwarming."
—The Atlantic

“In Garmus’s debut novel, a frustrated chemist finds herself at the helm of a cooking show that sparks a revolution. Welcome to the 1960s, where a woman’s arsenal of tools was often limited to the kitchen—and where Elizabeth Zott is hellbent on overturning the status quo one meal at a time.”
—New York Times

"It's the world versus Elizabeth Zott, an extraordinary woman determined to live on her own terms, and I had no trouble choosing a side. Lessons in Chemistry is a page-turning and highly satisfying tale: zippy, zesty, and Zotty."
—Maggie Shipstead, author of Great Circle

"Lessons in Chemistry is a breath of fresh air—a witty, propulsive, and refreshingly hopeful novel populated with singular characters. This book is an utter delight—wry, warm, and compulsively readable."
—Claire Lombardo, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had

"On par with Beth Harmon of The Queen’s Gambit, Elizabeth Zott swept me away with her intellect, honesty, and unapologetic selfhood. Lessons in Chemistry is a story for all the smart girls who refuse to dumb themselves down despite a culture that demands otherwise. Though a creation of the 50s & 60s, Zott is a feminist icon for our time."
—Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch

"A bold, smart, and often hilarious look at the value of so-called women's work."
—Real Simple

"I loved it and am devastated to have finished it."
—Nigella Lawson, author of Cook, Eat, Repeat

“[An] energetic debut...A more adorable plea for rationalism and gender equality would be hard to find.” 
—Kirkus (starred review)

"Indefatigable and formidable, Elizabeth pushes the bounds of how women and their work are perceived in this thoroughly engaging debut novel."
—Booklist

"Like a woman-centric “Mad Men”...A witty and sharp dramedy about resilience and found families...Readers won’t be able to get enough of Elizabeth and her makeshift family. Lessons in Chemistry is a story to return to again and again.” 
—BookPage

"A fabulous novel. Compelling, satisfying, a real page-turner."
—Nina Stibbe, author of Reasons to Be Cheerful

From the Publisher

11/01/2021

It's the 1960s, and chemist Elizabeth Zott is getting pushback from her male-only colleagues at the Hastings Research Institute—except from misanthropic Nobel Prize contender Calvin Evans, who's enchanted by her mind. Meanwhile, Elizabeth has a surprise second calling; she becomes star of a hit TV cooking show called Supper at Six, mixing in chemistry ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") as she subtly signals that women needn't accept things as they are. Sold in heated auctions to an eye-popping 34 countries so far, this debut promises to be really big.

Library Journal