First published 2009
Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951. Those "immortal" cells became one of the most important tools in medicine, fueling breakthroughs from the polio vaccine to gene mapping. Yet Henrietta's family can't afford health insurance, as her cells have been bought and sold for billions. This is the riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and the meteoric rise of biomedical research—and of a family left to deal with the enduring legacy of the mother they never knew.
Genres: medical, social-issues, non-fiction, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, true-story
Setting: United States, Virginia
370 pages · Hardcover · Crown Publishing Group