But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.
Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ('combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride') proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.
***
Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbeltless cars without giving it a second thought; back before anyone knew there'd even be a sixties movement, much less one that its participants would spend the next sixty years chronicling; back when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think fresh and believe everything was possible, the thirty-year-old mother of Madeline Zott rose before dawn every morning and felt certain of just one thing; her life was over- CHAPTER 1, NOVEMBER 1961
***
(@TransworldBooks, 5 April 2022, e-book, 392 pages, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @BorrowBox)
***
***
I loved this book. It's very funny and I laughed a lot reading it. Elizabeth Zott is an amazing character. I loved the time I spent with her. Brainy, geeky chicks rock! This is a also a sad book as Elizabeth struggles with parenthood, being a woman and fighting against male dominance. This is a joyous read. I laughed and cried until my face ached. This ticks all the boxes for me.
