- Published: 12 May 2022
- ISBN: 9780857528124
- Imprint: Doubleday
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 400
- RRP: $49.99
Lessons in Chemistry

















'Mad Men' didn't turn scientists into unlikely TV stars. But if they did ...
The blockbuster of 2022, set in 1960s California, introducing the unique and unforgettable Elizabeth Zott.
THE MULTI-MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER
Soon to be an Apple TV series starring Brie Larson
'Sparky, rip-roaring, funny' SUNDAY TIMES
'The most charming, life-enhancing novel I've read in ages' INDIA KNIGHT, Book of the Year
'I loved it' NIGELLA LAWSON
____________
Your ability to change everything - including yourself - starts here
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.
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. True chemistry results.
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.
__________
SOON TO BE A MAJOR APPLE TV SERIAL, STARRING BRIE LARSON
'I loved Lessons in Chemistry and am devastated to have finished it!' NIGELLA LAWSON
'Elizabeth Zott is an iconic heroine - a feminist who refuses to be quashed, a mother who believes that her child is a person to behold, rather than to mould, and who will leave you, and the lens through which you see the world, quite changed' PANDORA SYKES
'It's the world versus Elizabeth Zott, and I had no trouble choosing a side. A page-turning and highly satisfying tale: zippy, zesty, and Zotty' MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD, author of GREAT CIRCLE
As read on BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime
A BBC TV Between-the-Covers pick
THE #1 Sunday Times, #1 New York Times and #1 International bestseller
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Best Debut Novel Award
India Knight's SUNDAY TIMES Book of the Year
Shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize
Author of the Year at the British Book Awards
Winner of the Paul Torday Prize
A Book of the Year for: Guardian, Times, Sunday Times, Good Housekeeping, Woman & Home, Stylist, TLS, Oprah Daily, Newsweek, Mail on Sunday, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Evening Standard, New York Times, India Knight, Hay Festival and many others
- Published: 12 May 2022
- ISBN: 9780857528124
- Imprint: Doubleday
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 400
- RRP: $49.99
About the author
Bonnie Garmus is the author of Lessons in Chemistry, a number-one global bestseller and winner of several national and international awards, including Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year, Hay Festival’s Book of the Year, Goodreads Choice Award Debut of the Year, British Book Awards Author of the Year, Waterstones Author of the Year, Books are My Bag Author of the Year Award and Readers’ Choice Award, Germany and Australia’s Booksellers Book of the Year, Australia’s International Book of the Year, and many more. It was also selected by Queen Camilla for the Queen’s Reading Room and has been on the New York Times, Sunday Times and Der Spiegel bestseller lists for nearly two years. Currently published in forty-two territories, it has sold almost seven million copies.
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A Sunday Times bestseller and BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick.
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Bonnie Garmus was seething when she got back to her desk after a work meeting. It was then she began writing Lessons in Chemistry.
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. 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. 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. Meet the unconventional, uncompromising Elizabeth Zott. Buy now: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/lessons-in-chemistry-9780857528131
These female characters are brave, stand up for their beliefs and aren't afraid to break the status quo.Â
The blockbuster of 2022, set in 1960s California, introducing the unique and unforgettable Elizabeth Zott. Elizabeth is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. Meet the unconventional, uncompromising Elizabeth Zott. A single mother, and the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.