Lessons in Chemistry

"Lessons in Chemistry" is a novel written by Bonnie Garmus and published in 2022. The story follows a young woman named Elizabeth Zott, who lives in the 1960s and dreams of becoming a scientist. However, her unexpected pregnancy and dismissal from the lab force her to rethink her plans and find a new path. With the help of a chemistry teacher, Elizabeth starts teaching at a high school and discovers her passion for teaching and connecting with her students.

Similar to Laura Ingalls Wilder and Judith Krantz, Bonnie Garmus is a latecomer to the literary scene. This week, she is publishing her debut novel, the brilliant "Chemistry Lessons," just days before turning 65. Hooray for this! If we're going to constantly rave about newly minted MFA prodigies landing two-book deals, let's also raise a glass—or better yet, Garmus's book—in honor of this rarer breed of debut novelist.

In "Chemistry Lessons," venerable editor and creative director Garmus offers a confident voice, an indelible heroine, and several love stories: a mother's for her daughter, a woman's for science, a dog's for a child, and between a woman and a man.

At the center of the novel is Elizabeth Zott, a talented research chemist, absurdly self-assured, and immune to social conventions, "a woman with flawless skin and unmistakable behavior of someone who wasn't average and never would be." (Is it any wonder that Oscar winner Brie Larson will play her in an Apple TV Plus series of "Lessons" of which she'll also be an executive producer?)

The novel is set in the early 1960s in the mythical city of Commons, in Southern California, where apparently few people exist. Being a woman in science is a tough and lonely road. Elizabeth becomes nationally someone, not in the lab, but as a cooking expert on a local afternoon TV program called "Dinner at Six." Her nutritious dishes are steeped in chemistry with a plentiful garnish of female empowerment.

"When women understand chemistry," she tells a reporter, "they understand how things work." Science offers "the real rules that govern the physical world. When women understand these basic concepts, they can start to see the false limits that have been created for them." It's better to live among stews.

A decade earlier, Elizabeth met Nobel-nominated chemist and bitter master Calvin Evans at the Hastings Research Institute, where he's a star and she's not, because, well, sexism. They fit because they don't fit anywhere else. Garmus has filled her novel with rowing ("As anyone who isn't a rower can tell you, rowers aren't fun. This is because rowers only want to talk about rowing."), angst, corporate malfeasance, and, most enjoyably and rarest of all, life's humiliating, well-deserved events.

Elizabeth is a feminist and modern thinker. She has little talent for ingratiating herself with other people. It's Elizabeth, not her equally quirky and stubborn boyfriend, who refuses to get married "because I can't risk having my scientific contributions submerged under his name." Her obstinacy, becoming a single mother at a time when they were sent elsewhere, creates a heap of problems for her in a world that's not ready for her mind, character, or ambition.

There's a contagious absurdity in the book and its heroine. Here's Elizabeth discussing hydrogen bonding on what appears to be a cooking show: "I call this the 'love at first sight' bond because both parties are attracted to each other based solely on visual information: you like his smile, he likes your hair. But then you talk and discover he's a closet Nazi and thinks women complain too much. Jerk. That's the hydrogen bond for you, ladies, a chemical reminder that if things are too good to be true, they probably are."

Then, with her knife, she delivers a "Paul Bunyan whack" to an onion. "It's chicken pot pie night," she declares. "Let's get started."

Could "Lessons" have been a few tighter instructions? Certainly

In summary, "Lessons in Chemistry" is a novel that follows the story of a woman in the 1960s who struggles to realize her dreams of becoming a scientist. Through her journey, the novel explores themes such as motherhood and gender discrimination. Those interested in reading the novel can find an audiobook version on Audible.