Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Advanced
Title details for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - Wait list

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

by Rebecca Skloot
ebook
Read a sample Read a sample

A heartbreaking account of a medical miracle: how one woman's cells – taken without her knowledge – have saved countless lives. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a true story of race, class, injustice and exploitation.
'No dead woman has done more for the living . . . A fascinating, harrowing, necessary book.' – Hilary Mantel, Guardian
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 Skloot's moving 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.
Now an HBO film starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne.

Expand title description text
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Awards:

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9780230752771
  • File size: 1314 KB
  • Release date: January 7, 2011

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9780230752771
  • File size: 9516 KB
  • Release date: January 7, 2011
Loading
Loading

Formats

OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

subjects

Biography & Autobiography Gender Studies Science Nonfiction

Languages

English

Levels

Lexile® Measure:1140
Text Difficulty:8-9

A heartbreaking account of a medical miracle: how one woman's cells – taken without her knowledge – have saved countless lives. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a true story of race, class, injustice and exploitation.
'No dead woman has done more for the living . . . A fascinating, harrowing, necessary book.' – Hilary Mantel, Guardian
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 Skloot's moving 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.
Now an HBO film starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne.

Expand title description text
Biography & Autobiography Gender Studies Science Nonfiction