Description
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, now an HBO film starring Oprah Winfrey & Rose Byrne
Her name was once 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 vital vital tools in medicine. Yet Henrietta’s circle of relatives did not learn of her ‘immortality’ until more than twenty years after her death, with devastating consequences . . .
Rebecca Skloot’s fascinating account is the story of the life, and afterlife, of one woman who changed the medical world without end. 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 ordinary journey on the lookout for the soul and story of a real woman, whose cells survive as of late in all four corners of the world.
‘No dead woman has done more for the living . . . An enchanting, harrowing, essential book’ Hilary Mantel, Guardian
‘An ordinary mix of memoir and science reveals the story of how one woman’s cells have saved countless lives’ Daily Telegraph
‘A heartbreaking account of racism and injustice . . . Moving and magnificent’ Metro
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, now an HBO film starring Oprah Winfrey & Rose Byrne
Her name was once 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 vital vital tools in medicine. Yet Henrietta’s circle of relatives did not learn of her ‘immortality’ until more than twenty years after her death, with devastating consequences . . .
Rebecca Skloot’s fascinating account is the story of the life, and afterlife, of one woman who changed the medical world without end. 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 ordinary journey on the lookout for the soul and story of a real woman, whose cells survive as of late in all four corners of the world.
‘No dead woman has done more for the living . . . An enchanting, harrowing, essential book’ Hilary Mantel, Guardian
‘An ordinary mix of memoir and science reveals the story of how one woman’s cells have saved countless lives’ Daily Telegraph
‘A heartbreaking account of racism and injustice . . . Moving and magnificent’ Metro
