Lessons in Chemistry's Bonnie Garmus for Peck & Peck

Bonnie Garmus is coming to The Citadel on Thursday 5 November, where she'll be talking about her second novel, Peck & Peck. The evening is presented by Topping & Company Booksellers, and it's a chance to hear from the author in person rather than just reading her work.

If the name doesn't ring a bell, you'll likely recognise the book. Lessons in Chemistry was a global number one, spent nearly ninety weeks in the Sunday Times top 10, and was named by New York Times readers as one of the top 100 books of the 21st century. It's been translated into more than forty languages and picked up sixteen international literary awards, including British Book Awards Author of the Year, Waterstones Author of the Year, and Hay Festival's Book of the Year. Queen Camilla selected it for the Queen's Reading Room, and it was made into an Apple TV limited series. Garmus describes herself as a coffee-dependent American novelist, and that debut has kept her in the conversation for a few years now.

Peck & Peck is the follow-up. It's set in 1982 New York City and follows Batter Gray, a young man whose life is turned upside down when he's hired by the most prestigious, secretive and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world. The evening is built around that story, so it's a good one to have read beforehand if you want to follow along with the conversation.

It's on Thursday 5 November at The Citadel (York City Church) on Gillygate, YO31 7EA. The talk starts at 7pm, with doors opening at 6.30pm, so there's plenty of time to get settled before she begins.