Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

I don’t know about you, but when I hear great things about a book and read the fulsome praise bestowed upon it, I become not only a little bit reluctant to read it lest it fail to live up to expectations, but incredibly anxious for the author. I ambivalently picked up Lessons in Chemistry yet, by the time I’d read the first page, relaxed. It was more than evident that this book was not only going to meet my expectations, but exceed them.

The story of the magnificently named and highly unconventional (for the era – late fifties and early sixties) Elizabeth Zott, is one of the most engaging, fiercely intelligent, funny, observant and anger-inducing, while also simultaneously squeezing the heart, books I have read in a long time. The prose is simply sublime.

Born into a time where women should know their place and refrain from offering opinions, Elizabeth refuses to accept that people, let alone women, can be “average” and contests the very notion of what is “normal.” A chemist by passion and profession, she is also at the whim of patriarchal forces who refuse to see beyond her evident beauty to the wily, razor-sharp brain and wit beneath.

Due to a series of circumstances (and I really don’t want to say too much for fear of spoiling what is such a cracker of a plot and narrative arc, let alone character development), Elizabeth finds herself helming a cooking show, Supper at Six. Refusing to concede to the male producers’ ideas of how a female host should comport herself, Elizabeth is of the firm conviction that cooking IS science; furthermore, it’s a matter of basic chemistry. Thus, while teaching viewers to cook, she also instils in them not only the fundamental principles of chemistry, but a series of life-lessons. After all, what is chemistry but the deliberate combination of elements in such a way that they bring about change? If society cannot change, then women must, and in doing so, change society.

From an underestimated and undervalued scientist, struggling against dreadful inequality and inequity, personal obstacles and emotional upheavals, misunderstandings and great bonds broken, Elizabeth’s star slowly rises and yet, as it does, her happiness declines. Never having reconciled her past or that of her soul-mate’s, both begin to catch up with her in unexpected ways. Soon she has to make a decision that will impact not only her life, but that of those she loves most in the world.

I have to tell you, my husband started reading this book before me (on my recommendation – it was also my way of testing the waters before I started it! I know…coward!). He fell in love with the story, the wondrous, warm voice and Elizabeth from the get-go (so did I). But, he also became so furious at the injustices meted out to her, the hurdles deliberately put in her path, the brazen lies, complicity of those who should be allies and so on, and frustrated at the appalling treatment of her and other women generally by men and society at the time. He warned me I’d be triggered (he certainly was).

Strangely, I wasn’t triggered, not in the way he expected. I was, as I read and read and sighed and sighed, merely disappointed. What Elizabeth went through in the late 1950s and early 1960s, myself and countless other women have done for centuries. Even twenty years after Elizabeth entered the workforce, I was – like all my female peers – being judged and valued (or not) by the same kind of criteria. Women still are today. As a writer of historical fiction and someone who researches history constantly, it’s evident women have been ever since Eve bit the apple and our entire sex was made to pay for her chutzpah. Who would have thought that a medieval woman would be experiencing the same kind of bigotry, silencing and oppression a woman in the 1960s did – with very little difference? Yet, this is what happens – within context, of course.

Nevertheless, I didn’t find this book depressing – and believe me, there are some truly horrendous moments. On the contrary, it’s testimony to Garmus’s fantastic style and her sensational supporting characters (there is even the most adorable dog who is given a voice – the wonderfully named Six-Thirty), that this book, despite its dark themes and bitter-pill scenes, fills you with hope. It has such heart, such warmth and possibility – this is mainly due to Zott and her little family. I laughed out loud so often (I woke my hubby one night), and found it hard to tear myself away from the story.

There is not a word out of place, a character who doesn’t matter. This is a sharply observed, beautifully told story that delivers an important lesson about self-belief, about challenging the status-quo, about supporting people and how kindness and goodness are everything.

As you can tell, I adored this book. Just adored it. So much so, I wish I hadn’t finished it. One of my top reads – ever.

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Veil of Lies by Jeri Westerson

Veil of Lies is a medieval “whodunnit” that pits the wits of a disgraced knight against the equivalent of “the mob” as well as an elusive killer.

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The disgraced knight is one Crispin Guest, formerly of the House of Lancaster, but now of the less than salubrious streets of London. Known as “The Tracker”, against his better judgement, accepts a commission from a wealthy merchant who believes his wife is being unfaithful. Required to follow the man’s wife, what Crispin discovers confirms his employer’s concerns. When the merchant is found dead shortly after, suspicion falls on the lovely wife. But Crispin is not convinced by her guilt.

When Crispin learns that the merchant was also in possession of a valuable holy relic, a veil believed to bear the impression of Christ’s face and which forces anyone in its vicinity to speak the truth, he understands there are darker forces at work. This is relic is something that other parties are willing to kill to possess. Suddenly, a great deal more than a wife’s honour and a man’s life is at stake.

There’s no doubt Westerson brings the seamier side and brutality of this era London to vivid life in this tale of secrets, murder, and deception. The plot ticks along at a steady pace and with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. As a hero, Crispin is somewhat wanting (which I also liked) as he struggles with his loss of status and the people he’s not only forced to reckon with daily, but how he’s perceived and treated by others as well. Crispin is an unapologetic snob who manages to seriously offend and thus offside those whose help and trust he needs, let alone those he likes. In that respect, the novel exposes the class system extant at the time and how much appearances and connections counted. The woman at the centre of the tale is also flawed, but I enjoyed reading a book that didn’t rely solely on binary characteristics to spin a good yarn – so much so, I’ve downloaded the next book in the Crispin Guest series.

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The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths

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The Stone Circle is the 11th book in Elly Griffiths fabulous series featuring archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway and terse DI Nelson. Like its predecessors, it’s packed with mystery, complex interpersonal relationships and murder.

In this novel, a body is found buried in a recently unearthed stone circle. While the circle is of ancient origins the body definitely isn’t. Enter both Ruth and Nelson whose expertise is required to firstly age the body and then discover who the culprit is. When a cold case is reopened, it’s not long before suspects come to the fore. But when the most prominent of these is murdered, Nelson and his team have to work harder than ever before someone else is hurt – or worse. 

As usual, Griffiths excels in developing her characters – the regulars and even those introduced because of the central plot. Ruth, Kate, Nelson and his family’s dynamic becomes even more tangled and emotionally fraught as revelations and decisions regarding the future are made and then disregarded. I think Griffiths does real justice to the notion that it’s possible to love two people at once – two good people who don’t deserve to be hurt. While Nelson is torn between the two women in his life and his very different families, there’s no doubting his love for them or the fact he’s a good person who can make bad decisions (like other characters in the books). I also like that the women are represented as strong and proud, not passive vessels to Nelson’s wishes or desires. 

The ending to this novel feels a little rushed – not in terms of the plot, which is nicely played out, but in relation to the main recurring characters. I wish the editors had allowed Griffiths the chance to flesh it out just a little more. Nonetheless, I really look forward to seeing where Ruth, Nelson and the rest of the characters based around King’s Lynn (which really does see more than its fair share of buried bodies, surely?) takes us! 

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The Other Wife by Michael Robotham

The latest book in the Joseph O’Loughlin series, The Other Wife is a cracker of a read that I dare you to be able to put down once you start. I forced myself only so I could savour the joy of a great story with characters I’ve grown to know and love and who are embroiled in a plot both dark and, for Joe at least, deeply, personal.

The book opens with Joe relocated to London with youngest daughter Emma, contemplating life after the death of his wife, when he receives the call adult children both dread and half anticipate: his eminent surgeon father has been admitted to hospital and is on life support.

Racing to be by his father’s side, Joe reflects upon this cold, distant and judgemental man he barely knew and yet whose approval he endlessly sought. When he arrives at ICU, his father is not alone. A younger, lovely woman is sitting by his side, clutching his father’s inert hand. But it’s when she tells Joe who she is, that his world is turned upside down and inside out.

Everything Joe thought he knew is now unstable and with each new piece of information, he seems to lurch from one discovery and response to another. Not even the grounding presence and help of Vincent Ruiz, retired cop and now a corporate investigator, provides the stability Joe needs.

The more Joe delves into his own and other’s histories, the more suspicious he becomes about what really happened to his father and why, but when the truth is finally revealed, not even Joe is prepared for the consequences.

Superbly written, tight, fast-paced and emotionally fraught yet always true, this is a magnificent book that puts family and personal histories under the microscope and doesn’t hold back. It’s explores the assumptions we make – about those we think we know and those we don’t. How unfair and self-righteous these sometimes are and the terrible outcomes that can occur when we’re swift to judge.

No-one is more honest or raw in his judgements than Joe – especially about himself. I think that’s what makes his character rich, real and so appealing. Flawed, vulnerable and yet with a strength he isn’t always aware of, this book really has him centre stage, placed in an oft-cruel spotlight under which he still manages to star.

My only disappointment (as always happens with Robotham) is that I now have to bloody well wait for his next book. Please don’t leave me waiting too long. This was stunning.

 

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

When the reclusive, elderly and utterly glamorous Hollywood screen idol of last century, Evelyn Hugo, invites an obscure journalist, Monique Grant, to write an exclusive story about her for a magazine, little does Grant – or her employer – know what she’s agreed to do. A fading star who captivated audiences and the public with her films and the gossipy stories of her many husbands, affairs, the terrible losses and magnificent successes she survived, Hugo is still an enigma to many. The chance to put the record straight once and for all is, for Monique, too good to be true.

Struggling with personal issues, Monique nonetheless is flattered and seizes the opportunity being given to her, only, as the days go by and Hugo’s incredible tale unfolds, she also wonders why, of all those who could have written this story, she has been chosen. What possible reason could this powerful, intelligent woman, with fox-cunning and an unapologetic knack of always getting what she wants, have for choosing her?

Taking Monique and thus the reader back to her childhood in Hell’s Kitchen in New York, Hugo’s story is breath-taking in its audacity, courage and chutzpah. Beautiful, mildly talented, but knowing how to use the gifts she’s been given to forge ahead, and not caring what others think, Hugo’s tale is as much about female subordination, patriarchy, the Hollywood star-system, sex, sexuality, beauty, ageing, power and its abuses, as it is about a woman learning to navigate a life for herself and those she loves through this.

Taking heed of Hugo’s story, Monique finds herself alternately touched and inspired, inspired to use the lessons Hugo’s imparting to improve her own life. But when she learns the truth behind the story, about why she was chosen to write it, it threatens to unravel not only what she thought she knew about the actress, but about herself as well.

This is an easy, terrific read that takes you back in time on one woman’s remarkable and not always easy to stomach journey. The hurdles and prejudices she overcomes, the way in which men particularly underestimate her and others, the choices she bravely makes, and the hard decisions she stands by are compelling reading. Not always easy to like, it is easy to fall in love with Evelyn Hugo – the hard, wise, and always compassionate woman – even when at her hardest and most selfish. Terrible things were written and thought about the beautiful starlet, but none were as bad, raw or honest as what she wants Monique to write now.

Question is, can Monique do the woman justice? Especially once the truth is revealed…

Great escapist read.

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