Bestselling author Bonnie Garmus, whose debut novel Lessons in Chemistry became a global literary sensation, is back with her second novel, Peck & Peck. The book, published by Bonnier Books UK, is being released in India by HarperCollins India in October 2026.

Set in 1982 New York City, Peck & Peck follows Batter Gray, a recent college graduate struggling to find direction in life. With an unusual ability to recognise good poetry—an “ear” for poetry—Batter finds himself working at The Gap while dealing with student loans and an uncertain future.

His life changes when he lands a job at Peck & Peck, described as the world’s most prestigious and secretive poetry quarterly. He soon becomes caught in a bitter and deeply personal conflict between the publication’s famous twin Editors-in-Chief, the Peck brothers, who are also enemies.

As Batter navigates the magazine’s eccentric world, he is drawn into the private lives of its 39 editors and discovers a workplace where originality and creativity are prized above everything else—and plagiarism is dealt with ruthlessly.

Described as an original and humorous novel, Peck & Peck explores the world of literature while also examining ambition, creativity, relationships and the many contradictions of human nature.

The novel is 384 pages long and is priced at ₹699 in paperback in India.

Garmus’s debut, Lessons in Chemistry, became a number one global bestseller and spent nearly 90 weeks in the Sunday Times top ten. The novel has been translated into more than 40 languages and received 16 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.

Lessons in Chemistry was also selected by Queen Camilla for the Queen’s Reading Room and adapted into a limited series for Apple TV.

Peck & Peck marks Garmus’s return to fiction following the success of her debut and is her second novel.