Bonnie Garmus

She wanted to be a writer and studied English literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After college, she worked for many years as an editor at a scholarly publishing house. She then became a copywriter, specializing in technical and medical topics. She lived for a long time in Seattle. Because of her husband's work, she first moved from Seattle to Zurich, where she worked as a freelance copywriter, and then to London in 2017.

By the time she moved to London, Garmus had already attempted two unpublished novels. While in London, she attended writing courses run by the Curtis Brown agency. There she came into contact with the well-connected literary agent Felicity Blunt of Curtis Brown. She successfully promoted her client and her first novel (Chemistry Lessons). At the first digital Frankfurt Book Fair 2020, The Chemistry Lesson was considered the "hottest product". Sixteen publishers participated in the auction for the rights. Randomhouse publisher Doubleday bought the rights for the UK and the US. It was sold in 35 countries.