I was instantly hooked. This book is pure delight. We follow the twists and turns of Elizabeth Zott’s life in the fifties to the seventies in the USA.
It unfolds against a background of misogyny and female stereotyping. Talented scientist Elizabeth is disregarded by male colleagues. There are plenty of real-life examples of discrimination against women in science, e.g., Rosalind Franklin and Joselyn Bell Burnell. Cookery is indeed chemistry. When Elizabeth presents a cookery show that treats cookery as chemistry, she connects to an eager audience.
How we cook with love matters, and the chemistry of relationships is strong in Garmus’s novel. It is laced with humor. Laughing out loud as you read this book is cathartic because nearly all women of my generation have experienced misogyny or patriarchal attitudes.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • Meet Elizabeth Zott: a “formidable, unapologetic and inspiring” (PARADE) scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat” (The New York Times Book Review).
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Newsweek, GoodReads
"A unique heroine ... you'll find yourself wishing she wasn’t fictional." —Seattle Times…
Abdulrazak Gurnah is a Tanzanian-born British novelist and academic. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2021. I’m ashamed to say that I’d not heard of him before then. So, in 2022, I began to read some of his books. I recommend this book because I like books with a good storyline and engaging characters, but, reaching the end, I feel I have learned something new.
I’ve studied history and written historical novels, but I knew little about German colonialism in Africa. Being in a mixed relationship myself, I know that prejudice is not the sole property of white people, so I appreciated the nuances in this book.
A Gujarati Indian controls banking, and in this mixed family saga, Khalifa’s father is unusual for them. His Gujarati father stays faithful to his African mother. Despite a brutal German war background, this story is laced with generosity of spirit and humor.
BY THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2021
'One of Africa's greatest living writers' Giles Foden
'Exquisite' Telegraph
'A remarkable novel, by a wondrous writer' Philippe Sands
'To read Afterlives is to be returned to the joy of storytelling' Aminatta Forna
'Effortlessly compelling storytelling ... You forget that you are reading fiction, it feels so real' Leila Aboulela
Restless, ambitious Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the Schutzruppe askari, the German colonial troops; after years away, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away.
Hamza was not stolen, but…
All reviews are subjective but I must confess that, in this one, I am totally biased.
I organized this project, bringing together the children of my village school, St Swithun’s C/E Primary School in the UK, with Mumias School in west Kenya. I was delighted to read their stories about cats.
The different realities of their lives influenced the stories. Rats often appeared in the Kenyan stories but none in the English ones. The launch saw the schools connected on Zoom. I watched the local authors sign books with pride and enjoyed Zoom as some of the Kenyan authors read their stories. It was hard not to be touched.
My life and writing are informed by my desire to connect people who would otherwise not meet, so this book is perfect for me. I believe we can connect as equals through storytelling, art, and music, and this is an example of that.
Feel the force of fifty children's voices. Recognise the bravery of turning an empty page into a living story and celebrate how art and story-telling brings together young people who live continents apart.
Cosmic Cats connects Mumias Township Primary School (Kenya) and St Swithuns CE Primary School (England).
This is a story that the government of China will not want you to read and that a politically correct West doesn’t want ME to write. The background to my novel is factual.
It has 77 glowing reviews on Amazon and is endorsed by the editor of the Madras Courier as "a brilliant and compelling read." China's culture is about more than its government, and you can experience it in my book.
