In 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a poor black mother of five, came to Johns Hopkins, in Baltimore, to receive treatment for cervical cancer; eight months later, she was dead. Some of her cancer cells, however, became the first human cells to reproduce and survive indefinitely outside the human body. Before long, they were multiplying in labs around the world, and the research they made possible has contributed to everything from the polio vaccine to gene mapping. But when, eventually, the Lacks children learned of this they felt exploited and betrayed. Had the hospital given their mother cancer, so that it could use her as a guinea pig? Were there clones of Lacks living in England, like Dolly the sheep? Skloot set out to uncover the story of Lacks and her genetic descendants—both inside and outside the lab. This extraordinary account shows us that miracle workers, believers, and con artists populate hospitals as well as churches, and that even a science writer may find herself playing a central role in someone else’s mythology. 

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