I did not expect to like Lessons in Chemistry. After one member of my book club nominated it, we all voted it down. My stepmother told me I should read the book, but she still refers to me as a “career girl” and addresses letters to “Miss Josie Kafka” rather than the more accurate “Dr. Josie Kafka.” I just don’t like twee romantic comedies, and everything I thought I knew—1950s setting, smart female chemist with a cooking show and a difficult love life—made this book, and the adaptation on Apple TV, sound like somebody else’s cup of tea.
But Lessons in Chemistry is nothing like what I was expecting.