Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lessons in Chemistry | 2022 | Bonnie Garmus | Buy |
Bonnie Garmus’s debut novel Lessons in Chemistry (2022) is set in the 1960s. It follows Elizabeth Zott, a chemist who loses her position in a male-dominated lab and becomes the host of a cooking show called Supper at Six. The novel was a major bestseller and was adapted for television.
The book spent months on bestseller lists after its April 2022 release and was picked up by Apple TV+ for a limited series starring Brie Larson. Garmus wrote the novel in her sixties, making it a notable late-career debut. Elizabeth Zott’s refusal to simplify her scientific knowledge for a cooking-show audience drives much of the humor and tension.
Lessons in Chemistry blends historical fiction with sharp commentary on how women in science were treated in the mid-twentieth century. The tone is funny and pointed rather than heavy-handed. Garmus has not yet published a second novel, so this remains her only book.