Book description
In 1951, a young woman from Baltimore died of cancer. Her death changed
medical science for ever.
'One of the most graceful and moving non-fiction books I’ve read in a
very long time’ Dwight Garner, New York Times
‘Skloot’s book is wonderful - deeply felt, gracefully written, sharply
reported. It is a story about science but, much more, about life.’ Susan
Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was
a poor Southern tobacco farmer whose cancer cells - taken without her
knowledge - became one of the most important tools in medicine. The
first ‘immortal’ human tissue grown in culture, HeLa cells were vital
for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses,
and the effects of the atom bomb; helped lead to important advances like
in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought
and sold by the billions.
Yet Henrietta herself remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked
grave.
Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey in search of
Henrietta's story, from the ‘coloured’ ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in
the 1950s to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren
live, and struggle with the legacy of her cells.
Full of warmth and questing intelligence, astonishing in scope and
impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures
the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human
consequences. REBECCA SKLOOT is an award-winning science writer whose
articles have appeared in the New York Times Magazine and O, the Oprah
Magazine, among others. She has worked as a correspondent for NPR’s
RadioLab and PBS’s Nova ScienceNOW, and blogs about science, life, and
writing at Culture Dish, hosted by Seed magazine. She also teaches
creative nonfiction at the University of Memphis. Visit her website at
rebeccaskloot. com.
