Historical Fiction · Free kit
Lessons in Chemistry
Early-1960s Southern California: chemist Elizabeth Zott is smarter than the men who keep calling her a secretary, and she will be the first to tell you there is no such thing as an average woman. At Hastings Research Institute she finds one colleague who actually reads her work — Calvin Evans, a Nobel-nominated grudge-holder with a dog-shaped hole in his idea of family — and then life does what unrepeatable experiments do. A few years later she is a single mother, a rowing-club regular, and the deadpan star of America's favorite cooking show, where vinegar is acetic acid and the real recipe is telling women to stop shrinking. Funny, furious, and occasionally a little too neat, it is a book club novel about credit, kitchens, and who gets to take themselves seriously.
“Children, set the table. Your mother needs a moment to herself.”
Complete free book club kit
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Plan your meeting
Lessons in Chemistry Printables
Get the full printable pack on Etsy, or print individual pages from Bingo, Discussion Questions, and Hosting.
Die-cut stickers
A sticker sheet of pencils, beakers, cue cards, and a 6:30 clock — for journals or meeting favors.
Included in printable pack
Favorite quote cards
Cut cards for guests to write the line that stayed with them, sign-off included.
Included in printable pack
Reading tracker
Start date, finish date, and pages-read tracker for the month.
Included in printable pack
Book club invite
Printable invite with the kit's debate hook and meeting details.
Included in printable pack
Review sheet
Likes/dislikes scorecard for characters, plot, ending, and humor.
Included in printable pack
Cue-card prompts
A sheet of fake studio cue cards that guests can ignore, rewrite, or use as place cards.
Included in printable pack