Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

This is a pitch perfect depiction of the uphill Sisyphean battle that a woman who aimed to be an educated professional in the 1950's. Our hero is Elizabeth Zott, a brilliant student of chemistry who is treated like a servant rather than a scientist in the lab, and who's quest to complete her PhD. is ended when her advisor attempts to rape her and is thwarted by her stabbing him with a pencil--which is viewed as a crime because no one believes her. This is a sobering and hilariously improbable tale of her life and career that I loved from start to finish. The misogyny on display here is very easy to believe given the continued prevalence today--it is just a daily grind for millions of women in the workplace, and this is just a lot of fun and very sad at the same time. Do not miss it.