- Published: 7 March 2023
- ISBN: 9781804990926
- Imprint: Penguin
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 400
- RRP: $22.99
Lessons in Chemistry




















The 8-million-copy worldwide and Sunday Times #1 bestseller and award-winner featuring the uncompromising, unconventional Elizabeth Zott
THE MULTI-AWARD-WINNING MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER, now a major Apple TV series starring Brie Larson.
A New York Times Top 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Reader's Pick
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'The most charming, life-enhancing novel I've read in ages' Sunday Times
'Thought-provoking and stylish' Guardian
‘Page-turning’ – Maggie Shipstead, author of Great Circle
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Your ability to change everything - including yourself - starts here
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, she 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.
Forced to leave her job at the institute, she soon finds herself the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six.
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. One molecule at a time.
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A Book of the Year for:
Guardian, Times, Sunday Times, New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Woman & Home, Stylist, TLS Oprah Daily, Newsweek, Mail on Sunday, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, India Knight, Hay Festival, Waterstones, Amazon, Books are My Bag and many more!
Author of the Year at the British Book Awards
Author of the Year, Waterstones
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Best Debut Novel Award
Winner of the Books are My Bag Reader's Choice Award
Winner of the Books are My Bag Breakthrough Author Award
Shortlisted for the HWA Crown Award
Praise for Lessons in Chemistry:
‘Full of humour, heartbreak and characters who feel like real people’ Red Magazine
'Thought-provoking and stylish' Guardian
'Laugh-out-loud funny and brimming with life, generosity and courage' Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
'I loved Lessons in Chemistry and am devastated to have finished it!' Nigella Lawson
'A novel that sparks joy with every page' Elizabeth Day, author of Magpie
'Witty and sometimes hilarious ... the Catch-22 of early feminism' Stephen King
‘A beautiful, sharp, funny and dark modern classic. I adored it' Chris Whitaker, author of We Begin at the End
Lessons in Chemistry has sold over 6 million copies worldwide across all formats, The Guardian, December 2023
Front cover may vary
- Published: 7 March 2023
- ISBN: 9781804990926
- Imprint: Penguin
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 400
- RRP: $22.99
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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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.
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.