This book rides the line between reporting and memoir as author Rebecca Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks and the cells that were taken from her without her knowledge during treatment for cervical cancer. Those cells went on to be known as HeLa and it is no exaggeration to say that they galvanized scientific discovery around genetics and disease. Skloot compiles a gripping, multi-decade narrative that talks about Henrietta’s family — both before and after HeLa, the scientific community’s advances thanks to the infinitely growable cultures, and the medical ethics discussions that surround the cells’ harvest. In and of itself, the story of these cells is fascinating, and complex. 

However, what the book’s title doesn’t tell you is how much of the book will be about Deborah, Henrietta’s daughter, who was just an toddler at the time of her mother’s death. Her circumstances are tragic and abusive, both at the hands of immediate family and in the dismissive treatment she receives from scientists and doctors when she tries to learn about her mother. Skloot has to work very hard to earn Deborah’s trust (over literal years) in order to get a more complete picture of Henrietta’s family and legacy. 

I have read a lot of books in the previously-untold-stories genre, and yet this one stands out in particular thanks in part to the medical ethics quandary, but also due to the extraordinarily bonkers family history and dynamics that constitute the Lackses. I’m glad it was all one book, but there was truly enough story in both aspects for individual books in their own rights!

Skloot’s writing is gripping, lucid, and cinematic. I learned a lot from this read and I’d wholeheartedly recommend it.