Bonnie Garmus, 65, grew up in California and lived in Seattle and Geneva before moving to London in 2017. Her internationally bestselling debut, Lessons in Chemistry, out in paperback next month, is soon to be televised with Captain Marvel star Brie Larson in the role of Elizabeth Zott, an American scientist who, sacked for being pregnant in 1955, takes revenge when she’s hired to front a teatime cookery show. For Stephen King, the novel is “the Catch-22 of early feminism: witty, sometimes hilarious, angry and often surreal”. Garmus, who also works as a copywriter and creative director, discussed the bookon her return from a literary festival in Dubai.
What led you to write a comedy about sexism and misogyny? I think any time a writer wants to take on a difficult topic without sounding didactic, humour really helps. Sexism is demeaning, depressing, infuriating, boring, inefficient, stupid, revolting and completely unscientific – in other words, not funny. But people reveal both their strengths and weaknesses when they try to deal with it, or not deal with it, and therein lies the potential for humour.
Why do you think the book has struck such a chord around the world? Readers identify with Elizabeth Zott. There are so few of us who haven’t been put down, pushed aside, maligned, passed over, rejected, ripped off, lied to or treated badly simply because we’re women, people of colour, gender-diverse, neuro-diverse, too fat, too thin, too short, too tall – you name it. But Elizabeth is a rationalist; she doesn’t confuse societal prejudice with facts, nor does she accept direction from those who do. It’s fun to write a character like that. And it’s an honour to talk with readers from every corner of the world – the Middle East, Africa, South America, Australia, North America, Europe and beyond – and discover not only how aligned we are, but how dedicated we are to real societal change.
Writing a novel is like running five marathons back to back
What drew you to the novel’s free-floating voice, which roams between the thoughts of each character, major and minor, to say nothing of Elizabeth’s dog, Six-Thirty? I love the freedom of being in the heads of other people (and one dog). I know a few writing books will caution against it, but as long as you don’t lose the reader, I say go for it. I never wanted to write only from Elizabeth’s point of view: how others view her and react to her is ultimately what drives the story. Chemically speaking, she’s the catalyst – she changes every character she comes in contact with.
