What a great book! This was love at first chapter. 
Important to mention is that this is a story about Elizabeth Zott, a strong but imperfect women, chemist and mother. The novel follows her life over a twenty-ish year span including the ups and down. We follow themes of science, education, motherhood, misogny, family, friendships and her career. 
Great pacing, writing and character building. Is the setting historically accurat? I'm not sure. 
On top of that and most importantly: I enjoyed it. I really related to the characters and loved the complexity in them. The relationship between mother and daughter was delicate and empowering. Reading about the scences where women were treated horrible wasn't easy but important. The novel deserves the love it gets and I do understand the few that dislike the novel. If you don't vibe with the main character, I'm certain that you will not have a good time - I had. 
Go read it! Definitely a highlight in my reading year :)