A really good read - Lessons in Chemistry
How I loved this book! And how I absolutely loved not just its smart, furiously principled, unapologetic heroine, the chemist of the title, Elizabeth Zott, but the whole cast of characters who leap out of the pages and straight into your heart. Not least the smartest dog you’ll ever encounter (more of him later).
First, though, an explanation of the slightly odd pic accompanying this review. I read Lessons in Chemistry whilst I was away on holiday, but as I challenged myself to travel with just hand luggage, I downloaded most (fortunately not all) of my intended reading onto my kindle. Which then promptly died on day one of the trip . Determined not to miss out on a book recommended by so many friends, I was forced to resort to reading it on my phone. (So it’s a mark of just what a fabulous book it is that I enjoyed it so much even in those far from ideal circumstances). Hence the pic of the cover as supplied by one of my many recommenders, dropped over a shot of where I did my holiday reading.
Right, now we’ve got that clear, let’s get back to the important stuff.
The book begins in 1961, with single mother Elizabeth who has become the reluctant star of a hugely successful daytime cookery show, preparing lunch for her young daughter, Madeline, always known as Mad for reasons that become clear. Elizabeth is a brilliant research chemist by both training and passion , but her career has faltered and as the narrative takes you back in time you discover why.
From the moment she begins her training, Elizabeth is subjected to suspicion, ridicule, misogyny and even physical assault for having the audacity not just to be a woman in a historically male field, but a talented one at that. Doggedly determined to remain true to her calling and her principles, Elizabeth refuses to be bowed or beaten back. And when she meets and eventually - after a faltering start - falls into a deeply loving and bonded (pun entirely intended) relationship with Nobel prize-winning fellow chemist and social misfit, Calvin Evans, you hope against hope for the happiness of this unconventional but perfectly matched couple, even knowing that something happens that will destroy it (see opening).
That something is just one of the heartbreaking moments of loss and sadness that Elizabeth faces. But also only one of the melancholy moments in what is, predominantly, a joyous, air-punchingly celebratory book about a mould-breaking woman ferociously determined not to cow-tow to the expected norms, and to follow her path and her calling in the face of, at times, seemingly insurmountable odds.
Lessons in Chemistry author, Bonnie Garmus
It is the skill of former copywriter, 64 year old Bonnie Garmus, whose first novel this is (hard to believe it’s a debut. And lets please celebrate the fact that it is at the age she is), that she serves up not just a heroine to treasure and cheer for, but a satisfyingly fleshed out cast of supporting characters including, but far from limited to, her precociously inquisitive, truth-seeking daughter, the aforementioned Mad; her seemingly taciturn (but actually nothing of the sort), quietly devoted neighbour Harriet; her almost perpetually exasperated TV producer Walter and for me most enjoyably memorable of all, the unforgettably named, super-smart, emotionally sophisticated dog, Six-Thirty, whose observations and thoughts are shared in the same way as those of the humans he is devoted to.
Suffused with wit, bursting with stylish, accomplished writing and historical resonance, Lessons in Chemistry comes to a gratifying conclusion without slipping into Disney-fied happy-ever-after territory. Nigella Lawson is quoted on the cover as being devastated when she finished the book. If you don’t feel the same you have a harder heart than mine.
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