“Lessons in Chemistry” Gets a Paperback Makeover — Read a Powerful Never-Before-Seen Chapter Here! (Exclusive)

Lessons in Chemistry is getting a makeover for its paperback edition!

The bestselling book by author Bonnie Garmus — which has sold over 8 million copies worldwide and been translated into 43 languages so far — will be coming out in paperback this spring. And PEOPLE has an exclusive new chapter.

Garmus tells PEOPLE that she is “really excited” to finally have the paperback version of the book coming out as an option for fans after the runaway success of the hardcover, and was particularly thrilled at seeing the alternative book cover.

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“I always love the portability of a paperback, but I really love the new cover,” the author says. “It's both fun and powerful, and with the gold periodic table as the backdrop, it also feels celebratory.”

She adds that she was taken aback by the response her debut novel has gotten so far, and that it was “completely unexpected” and “uplifting” to have so many people resonate with it. And these days, its subject matter is more important than ever.

“I've spent the last few years talking with people around the world about gender discrimination —specifically how the imbalance created by a patriarchal society hurts everyone — and not just economically, but politically and psychologically,” she says.

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“It's easy to lose hope — especially now — but we must keep fear at bay and continue to work toward eliminating bias. Our society and our planet depend on it,” she added.

Lessons in Chemistry has not only made a huge splash on the literary scene, but has traveled across mediums as well. The story was adapted into a limited series on Apple TV+ starring Brie Larson, which earned several Emmy awards, including one for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.

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Larson also picked up an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her role as protagonist Elizabeth Zott and composer Carlos Rafael Rivera received an Emmy for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music.

On seeing her book adapted into an Emmy-award-winning series, Garmus tells PEOPLE: “It was amazing! I was especially happy for series composer, Carlos Rafael Rivera, whose music composition is stunning. He deserved that Emmy.”

The paperback version of Lessons in Chemistry is set to hit stores on April 1. Read an exclusive chapter below.

Author's note: This unpublished chapter from the original Lessons in Chemistry manuscript was written to show how Elizabeth Zott was able to calm and unify the nation during one of the most frightening times in American history — the Cuban Missile Crisis. With her words, she extends her rationality and influence not only across the nation, but around the world.

Missiles of Madness

Months later, Walter Pine would look back on this time and realize, despite the stress, he’d never been happier. Supper at Six kept ticking along. Viewership increased, the Afternoon Depression Zone grew less depressing, everyone seemed happier. 

But that’s how television is: it has a habit of presenting one way of life even as another festers. It was 1962. Race riots raged. Marilyn Monroe died. Nelson Mandela was arrested. And despite the impossibly blue skies in Commons, Calif., a darkness seemed to be creeping into the national consciousness. 

Something was coming. Something ignited by still-secret wars and shoe-banging politicians. Something that had the power not just to ruin things, but to end things. 

On Oct. 14, 1962, just off the coast of Florida, a US U-2 aircraft provided photographic evidence of short- and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missile launchers in Cuba, just 90 miles from Key West. Supplied by the Soviets, it was clear the missiles, which had a payload 40 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, could be launched without warning, reaching the continental United States — Washington D.C. was one of many targets — and annihilating everything and everyone in that city within 10 minutes. 

But it wasn’t as if Americans were completely unprepared. They’d been building fallout and bomb shelters for a decade already. As for their children, they’d been taught Duck and Cover drills at school — partly to avoid the broken glass that would shoot from the windows like a million transparent weapons post-impact, blinding some and killing others, but also to protect themselves in the event of a total building collapse. Should the bomb drop, their building would fold like a weak hand of cards, burying them alive before they’d had a chance to get any better at long division. But thanks to Duck and Cover, at least their dead bodies would be protected.  

That is why, when President Kennedy took to the airwaves on Oct. 22, 1962, demanding that the Soviets stop their “clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace,” it was clear that nuclear war was not only possible, but imminent. And because of it, a nation gathered its children in shaky arms and began preparations to go underground.

But before they did, Jackie Kennedy strode into the Oval Office and said, “It’s one thing to warn the nation, Jack, but you can’t just leave it there. We have to get them involved; tell them what to do and how to do it. And when I say we, I don’t mean you. I mean her.” She handed him the number for KCTV Studios in Commons, Calif. “Her name is Elizabeth Zott,” Jackie said, noting her husband’s confused expression. 

“Elizabeth who?”

“She makes dinner on TV.”

“Hello,” said a calm, steady, voice less than 20 minutes later. “My name is Elizabeth Zott and I’m the host of Supper at Six.” As always, she was standing in front of a cutting board, apron on, tools laid out neatly to one side, Six-Thirty at her feet. “I come to you live, from KCTV Studios in Commons. As you know, our country is on the brink of war. And that is why I’m here now — to help you and your family prepare for nuclear attack.”

“Jesus Christ, turn it up,” shrieked households from Fresno to Manhattan.

“First things first,” Elizabeth continued. “Don’t panic. If you find yourself panicking, realize that is exactly what the enemy wants you to do. So, take a deep breath. Hold it. Let it go.” She paused and leaned forward into the camera as if waiting for the nation to finish the exercise. “Good. Now let’s get started.”  

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Across America, Elizabeth’s voice could be heard on every TV and radio station, from Salem, Ore., to Bangor, Maine. Citizens lacking access to either were encouraged to find their way to stores, bars, libraries, a neighbor’s home, a YMCA or a church’s nave. Every door was open.

“Safety is a group effort,” Elizabeth said, “and everyone has a role to play. Ladies, as captains of the home, I’m putting you in charge. Organize the following efforts: one family member to gather two blankets per person, and another to place every canned good you have into boxes. As most of you know, I don’t usually advocate the use of canned goods, but today I’m making an exception. Don’t forget the can opener. Moving on, designate another family member to gather every pitcher, jug and watering can and fill them with H2O. Men, ferry these down to the bomb shelter.” 

In Duluth, Minn., a mother pointed at specific family members as each instruction was read. “That’s you, Ken,” she said. “That’s yours, Cindy,” she instructed. “Start lugging, Tom.”

“Younger children,” Elizabeth Zott continued. “Gather all the candles and matches you can find. Do not light them — you’ll have your chance later. Ladies, locate and box all medications and double-check the contents of your first aid kit. Men, find the toolbox; then await further instructions from your wife.”

“First aid kit?” a man said in Pensacola, Fla. “Where the hell are we going to get one of those?” His wife pointed to a small suitcase at her feet. “I’ve had this ready for years. It’s filled with aspirin, bandages, ointments, safety pins, tweezers, needle and thread, rubbing alcohol, a scalpel and penicillin. And potassium iodide.”

“Potassium what?” he asked.

“Potassium iodide,” Elizabeth Zott said from the set.

“What’s it for?” he asked.

“In case of radioactive fallout,” Emily and Elizabeth informed him simultaneously. “To protect the thyroid.”

“Work with purpose,” Elizabeth continued. “Don’t rush.” 

“But we don’t have a bomb shelter,” a teenage boy worried from his family’s den in Canton, Ohio. 

“I realize some of you won’t have bomb shelters,” Elizabeth said. “So here’s what I want you to do: store your gathered goods under the sofa and the table — anything that will offer some protection from a possible blast. If you’re in a department store, try the furniture department. Leave some room under there for yourself, as well. Do it now.”

From his hospital bed in Silver Lake, Calif., Phil Lebensmal woke to see a woman with a large knife in a familiar setting telling him what to do. He fainted.

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“Next step,” she said. “Choose a book that offers comfort. I’m taking a  biochemistry textbook.”

"No,” a mother in Reno, Nev. informed her teenage daughter who started to reach for a well-worn hardcover. “Peyton Place is out. You may bring the encyclopedia. And the dictionary.”

“Next step,” Elizabeth said. “Bring whatever you can of your fresh food — fruits and vegetables first. And a few utensils. And please, don’t forget your pets. All fish, birds, lizards, tarantulas, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, mice, rats, cats and dogs, and whatever it is they eat, go with you.”

“She didn’t say snakes,” said a mother in Baton Rouge as she watched her daughter coil a brightly patterned reptile around her neck, its tongue flicking in the evening air. “Rattles stays above ground.” 

“But Mommmm!” the girl cried.

“Don’t mom me.”

“I almost forgot,” Elizabeth said, “Snakes, too.”

As the final pets and food stuffs were gathered in homes across the nation, Elizabeth looked off to the side of the set where Harriet, Madeline, Walter and Amanda stood watching, their faces solemn. KCTV had a large bomb shelter built exactly for this purpose, and once the show was complete, they and any remaining KCTV employees would take their places underground. 

“America, we’re ready,” Elizabeth said, resting one hand on Six-Thirty’s neck. “Should the Soviets make the extremely poor decision to launch these missiles, they will soon wish they hadn’t.”

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She looked out past the set to the empty seats that would have normally been filled with her studio audience, weighing her next words. 

“We are the United States of America, Mister Khrushchev,” she said, turning toward the camera as if she knew he was watching. “Fifty states spanning nearly three and a half million square miles and populated by over 186 million citizens hailing from every corner of the earth. We’re a nation of Native Americans and immigrants. We don’t speak the same language. We don’t look like each other. We don’t even believe in the same gods — or for some of us, any god. But we do share something you should fear: a hunger for freedom. So, while your missiles might destroy a few square miles of our country; while they may end thousands of our lives, they cannot and will not destroy us. We’re Americans, Mister Khrushchev.” 

Then she leaned into the camera and said in a voice that could have peeled paint, “We eat bullies for breakfast.”  

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Lessons in Chemistry comes out in paperback on April 1 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.

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