By Galy, founder of The BookClub Boutique · Last updated September 29, 2026
The short answer: If you loved Lessons in Chemistry, start with Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood for the same wit, The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal for a 1950s woman fighting her way into science, and Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly for the true story. The full list of 14 is below, with my unicorn ratings.
Lessons in Chemistry is one of my five-unicorn books 🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄. Elizabeth Zott is a chemist in the 1960s who ends up hosting a cooking show and quietly teaches a nation of housewives to think for themselves. What makes it work is the mix: she's brilliant, she's furious about how she's treated, she's funny without trying, and she wins. That's what I looked for in every book below.
What should I read after Lessons in Chemistry?
| Book |
Author |
The woman in science |
Read it if you loved |
My rating |
| Love Theoretically |
Ali Hazelwood |
Theoretical physicist fighting for a job in academia |
The humour and the sexism-in-science rage |
🦄 5 |
| Love on the Brain |
Ali Hazelwood |
Neuroscientist leading a NASA project |
A smart heroine who refuses to shrink |
— |
| The Love Hypothesis |
Ali Hazelwood |
Biology PhD student at Stanford |
Lab life with a romance |
— |
| The Calculating Stars |
Mary Robinette Kowal |
Mathematician and pilot in an alternate-history 1950s space race |
A woman shut out of science by the era |
— |
| The Signature of All Things |
Elizabeth Gilbert |
Botanist in the 19th century |
A long, rich life of the mind |
— |
| Remarkable Creatures |
Tracy Chevalier |
Fossil hunters in 1800s England |
Women erased from scientific credit |
— |
| A Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics |
Olivia Waite |
Astronomer in Regency England |
Science plus a sapphic love story |
— |
| The Only Woman in the Room |
Marie Benedict |
Hedy Lamarr, actress and inventor |
A real woman underestimated for her looks |
— |
| The Other Einstein |
Marie Benedict |
Physicist Mileva Marić |
Asking who really got the credit |
— |
| The Frozen River |
Ariel Lawhon |
Midwife and healer in 1789 Maine |
A competent woman taking on a corrupt system |
🦄 4.5 |
| The Women |
Kristin Hannah |
Army nurse in the Vietnam War |
Women whose work history forgot |
🦄 5 |
| Hidden Figures (nonfiction) |
Margot Lee Shetterly |
Black women mathematicians at NASA |
The true story behind the fiction |
— |
| Lab Girl (memoir) |
Hope Jahren |
Geobiologist |
What a scientist's life is really like |
— |
| Invisible Women (nonfiction) |
Caroline Criado Perez |
Data on how the world is designed for men |
The rage, with the numbers to back it up |
🦄 5 |
Books marked — haven't been rated yet.
Which books are most like Lessons in Chemistry in tone?
Love Theoretically and The Calculating Stars. Both pair a sharp, funny heroine with real frustration at how science treats women, and both end with her winning. If it was the 1960s setting you loved, go for The Calculating Stars.
Are there true stories like Lessons in Chemistry?
Yes: Hidden Figures follows the Black women mathematicians behind NASA's early missions, Lab Girl is a geobiologist's memoir, and Invisible Women explains, with data, the bias Elizabeth Zott keeps running into.
Is there a book club for people who love Lessons in Chemistry?
That's the reader the STEMinist BookClub by The BookClub Boutique was made for. Every month we pick one novel with a clever, grown-up heroine and feminist themes, and ship it to Canada and the US with stickers, stationery and a letter written by the heroine. Members also get 20% off every book in our shop, including the ones on this list, for as long as they're subscribed. Learn how it works →
Frequently asked questions
What genre is Lessons in Chemistry? Historical fiction with humour, set in the early 1960s.
Who wrote Lessons in Chemistry? Bonnie Garmus. It was her debut novel, published in 2022.
Is Lessons in Chemistry good for book clubs? Very. It sparks conversations about work, motherhood and who gets taken seriously.
What's a romance like Lessons in Chemistry? Love Theoretically or Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood: women in science, lots of wit, and a love story that doesn't sideline her career.
About the author: Galy is the founder of The BookClub Boutique and leads the STEMinist BookClub, where every pick has to earn at least 4 unicorns from her first.
