Adelaide Einstein: a Novel by April L. Hamilton

Adelaide Binchley is probably the only fortysomething housewife and junior college dropout ever to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics, and she's certainly the only one whose career was launched by a bedpan. When Addie meets Physics professor Jakob Pankowicz, she discovers that having just one person see a greater potential in her, and believe in her even when she doesn't believe in herself, is all she needs to escape her self-imposed limits. In this hilarious and touching novel, as she navigates the rough territory created by her teenage-feminist daughter, borderline delinquent son, philandering husband, and the friends in her embroidery circle, Addie finds when one person selflessly reaches out to another, that gesture has the power to change the world.