Lessons in Chemistry

Elizabeth Zott is a chemist, and a very good one — but it is the early 1960s, and the men who run the Hastings Research Institute would rather she make coffee than run experiments. Undaunted, sharp-tongued, and allergic to nonsense, Elizabeth refuses to shrink herself to fit the world's expectations. When she meets the equally brilliant and famously prickly Calvin Evans, the two fall into a rare meeting of minds — until life takes a series of unexpected turns.

Some years later, Elizabeth is a single mother, an unlikely television star, and the reluctant host of a beloved cooking show called Supper at Six. Treating recipes as chemistry and her audience as intelligent adults, she becomes a phenomenon — and, without quite meaning to, a quiet revolutionary, encouraging women across the country to question what they've been told they're allowed to want.

Bonnie Garmus's bestselling debut is a funny, moving, and defiant story about science, sexism, unconventional family, and the stubborn work of being yourself. It was adapted into an acclaimed Apple TV+ series.