Our host for this month is Sharon Grimshaw.

Our book is "Lessons in Chemistry: A Novel," by Bonnie Garmus.

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, she would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male colleagues at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holding chemistry genius who falls in love with her mind. True chemistry results. 

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later she finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, she isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo. The story is funny, sad, shrewdly observant, and filled with an eclectic cast of supporting characters.