The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a fascinating mix of memoir and science, telling the story of how one woman's cells have saved countless lives.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Born a poor black tobacco farmer, her cancer cells taken without her knowledge became a multimillion-dollar industry and one of the most important tools in medicine. Yet Henrietta's family did not learn of her immortality until more than twenty years after her death, with devastating consequences...

Rebecca Skloots fascinating account is the story of the life, and afterlife, of one woman who changed the medical world forever. Balancing the beauty and drama of scientific discovery with dark questions about who owns the stuff our bodies are made of, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an extraordinary journey in search of the soul and story of a real woman, whose cells live on today in all four corners of the world.