review TOP 4 BOOKS TO READ THIS MONTH
A BOOK LOVER’S REVIEW BY JACQUI SERAFIM
Horse by Geraldine Brooks From the Pulitzer Prize winning author comes a wonderfully rich tale based on the true story of a famous 19th century racehorse. 'A novel infused with love, loss and shared history..
The Labyrinth
Dirt Town By Hayley Scrivenor Set in a remote town where a schoolgirl disappears, this debut arrives with high praise from other crime novelists – and it’s truly excellent. 'You will not be able to put it down.' Hannah Kent
The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland Awe inspiring, exciting, storytelling and a work of important Holocaust historical research. It tells the story of Rudolph Vrba and Fred Wetzler who escaped from Auschwitz and tried to warn the world about what was happening there. . Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon by Gabrielle Wang A new book from Australia's Children's Laureate to add to her wonderful list of titles (that are all in The Bookery!). This is a heartwarming tale of courage and friendship that will make you believe in the power of stories.
by Amanda Lohrey Bonnie Garmus’s debut novel is both entertaining and purposeful - a narrative conduit for both the comic and the tragic. It is a great holiday read written by a woman about a woman but it offers far more than traditional “chick lit”. With deft humour, incisive intelligence and profound empathy it achieves that same rare balance of fun, pain and futility that life does – presenting us with the full gamut of life experience while capturing a moment in history that still resonates for many women today. It is 1961, and Elizabeth Zott, depressed single mother and unemployed research chemist is unexpectedly recruited to be the host of a cooking show for housewives called “Supper at Six”. She is chosen by the producer for her beauty and style, her nutritious and well-balanced meals and her charismatic no-nonsense directness. She takes the job purely to pay the bills but instead of quietly conforming to the expected stereotype of a female cooking show host, she soon manages to use her program to speak directly to housewives everywhere inspiring change in the way they see themselves, society and their role in it, and the limitations imposed upon them by men. “When women understand chemistry… they understand how things work." She explains that science offers “the real rules that govern the physical world. When women understand these basic concepts, they can begin to see the false limits that have been created for them.” The novel weaves back and forth, showing Elizabeth’s early brilliance in her scientific field and the injustice she encounters at the hands of her male colleagues. She endures a range of obstacles, and Garmus doesn’t hold back in showing what women have to face. Her persistent challenging of societal assumptions and norms in the face of outrageous sexism and appalling abuse is inspiring. But her true charm is in her unwavering strength and conviction in how to live her life and the example she sets for her daughter. Whether in the field of academia, scientific research or the world of television production, Elizabeth is subjected to outrageous sexism but refuses to submit to male pressure. It is to Garmus’s credit that she manages to create entertaining comedy from the sizeable gap between society’s expectations of Elizabeth and her calm refusal to cooperate but to doggedly pursue her own truth. Although this is quite a comic novel it is far from light-hearted. Elizabeth’s life is hard and she has experienced more than her fair share of pain and tragedy in her young life. Even when she finds her soulmate, Calvin Evans, the one man who truly appreciates her mind, she is subjected to malicious gossip and her happiness is short-lived. Through Elizabeth, we also meet a number of other characters whose lives are shaped by the societal pressure associated with the more binary roles of men and women in the sixties. With Lessons in Chemistry, Garmus has delivered a triumphant debut novel – fast-paced, comic and significant – and a tribute to all the women who disrupted the status quo by defying expectations and refusing to submit to the norm.
Lessons in Chemistry is being adapted into an Apple TV+ series starring Brie Larson.
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