Bonnie Garmus’ second novel is coming later this year.
Scribner will publish Peck & Peck, by the author of Lessons in Chemistry, according to a news release. The press calls the book “irresistible, delightful, and tender.”
Garmus worked as a copywriter before making her literary debut in 2022 with Lessons in Chemistry, a novel that followed Elizabeth Zott, a chemist in the early 1960s who becomes the host of a popular cooking show. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “A more adorable plea for rationalism and gender equality would be hard to find.”
The novel became a bestseller and was named Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year. It was adapted into a 2023 miniseries created by Lee Eisenberg and starring Brie Larson, Lewis Pullman, and Aja Naomi King; Larson earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her performance.
Peck & Peck will follow Batter Gray, a young man living in New York who takes a job working at an esteemed but dysfunctional poetry journal. “Batter is named after his mother’s heroic dog. An identical twin who lost his brother at birth, he finds himself confronted by the everyday dualities that make up life: right vs. wrong, truth vs. lies, rejection vs. acceptance,” Scribner says. “It’s almost as if his dead brother is a reminder: there are always two sides to every story. No, wait. Make that three.”
Peck & Peck is scheduled for publication on Oct. 27.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
