The usual hyperbole on the front cover included ‘Absolutely unputdownable’ by Richard E Grant. And it was true! Only massive willpower stopped me reading at 11 p.m. Then I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about the storyline. Which is?

Set in the early 1950s in the USA’s scientific-research world. Elizabeth Zott is a victim of rape by her doctoral supervisor. She viciously defended herself and was promptly slung off the Ph.D programme. Once she got a job she was marginalised by her section head – because of her superiority. Meanwhile she has a colleague who’s utterly brilliant AND they fall in love.

Unmarried, pregnant, with a dead boyfriend and unemployed – unmarried mum in the 1950s need I say any more? She rebuilt her life, which includes a very precocious daughter. It’s a wonderful story of feminism without politics. Courage. And grim humour. I totally loved it.

Lots of coincidences which stretch credulity but go with the flow and enjoy.