Waterstones: Bonnie Garmus in conversation with Clare Chambers

Hear Bonnie in conversation as she discusses the follow-up to her international bestseller Lessons in Chemistry. Ticketholders can expect an incredible evening of conversation and celebration. As well as an opportunity to step into the book and grab a photo in the Peck & Peck offices with a beautiful, bespoke instillation!

Hugely original, brilliantly funny and peopled with unforgettable characters, Peck & Peck is both a passionate ode to the written word and a heartwarming exploration of all that makes us human.

Batter Gray is worried about his future. Even when he was eleven, his classmates seemed to have settled on a goal: doctor, lawyer, broker, engineer. Good jobs that automatically command respect and security. Now Batter is in his early 20s, living in New York City, and he wants something different; something that alienates some people and bores most. Poetry. And yet to him – and exactly thirty-nine editors at a company called Peck & Peck – poetry not only represents the power of humanity but holds the key to its survival.

Batter was named after his mother’s dog, who seemed to have achieved more in his short years on earth than he ever will. But as an identical twin who lost his brother at birth, Batter finds himself confronted by the everyday dualities that make up life: right vs. wrong, truth vs. lies, rejection vs. acceptance. It’s almost as if his dead brother is a reminder: there are always two sides to every story. No, wait. Make that three.

Bonnie Garmus is a coffee-dependent American novelist. Her debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, was a number one global bestseller and spent almost ninety weeks in the Sunday Times top 10. It was named by New York Times readers as one of the top 100 books of the 21st Century. Translated into over forty languages, Lessons in Chemistry was honoured with sixteen international literary awards, including the British Book Awards Author of the Year, Waterstones Author of the Year, and Hay Festival’s Book of the Year. It was also selected by Queen Camilla for the Queen’s Reading Room, and made into an Apple TV limited series. Peck & Peck is her second novel.

Clare Chambers was born in Croydon and began her career as a secretary at the publisher André Deutsch in 1990, when Diana Athill was still at the helm. Her first novel was published by Deutsch in 1992.

Small Pleasures, her first work of fiction in a decade, became a word-of-mouth bestseller. It was chosen as a book of the year by The Times, Evening Standard, Daily Telegraph, and Spectator, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2021 and won Pageturner of the Year at the British Book Awards 2022. Her latest novel, Shy Creatures, was shortlisted for the HWA Gold Crown 2025.

Please Note: The Book & Ticket option includes a copy of Peck & Peck (RRP £22) and an exclusive Peck & Peck Tote Bag, to be collected on the night.