The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By: Rebecca Skloot

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Bahni Turpin

Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Number one New York Times best seller.

Now a major motion picture from HBO® starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne.

One of the “most influential” (CNN), “defining” (Lit Hub), and “best” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) books of the decade.

One of essence’s 50 most impactful Black books of the past 50 years.

Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, O: The Oprah Magazine, NPR, Financial Times, New York, Independent (UK), Times (UK), Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Globe, and Mail.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge - became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than 60 years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than 20 years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family - past and present - is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family - especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance? Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.

©2010 Rebecca Skloot (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

Winner of The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for nonfiction

"The story of modern medicine and bioethics - and, indeed, race relations - is refracted beautifully, and movingly.” (Entertainment Weekly)

"Writing with a novelist's artistry, a biologist's expertise, and the zeal of an investigative reporter, Skloot tells a truly astonishing story of racism and poverty, science and conscience, spirituality and family driven by a galvanizing inquiry into the sanctity of the body and the very nature of the life force." (

Booklist)

Interesting Story

Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman in Baltimore who had cancer in the early 1950's. Her cancerous cells had the ability to be cultured and grown - an ability that is not present in most cells. The rare ability for these cells to be grown in culture provided a cell line that was used in the creation of the polio vaccine and numerous other cures. The cells themselves did not provide the cure, the cells provided a means in which researchers could study a disease and develope a cure. The book was written because for years, the identity of the donor of these cells was only known as Hela. Neither Henrietta or anyone in her family received and compensation or, until relatively recently, any notoriety for these cells. The author fairly protrays that, for the era in which these cells were obtained, there was nothing wrong, illegal or underhanded going on. Procedures such as informed consent were non existent in the 1950's. I was left with the feeling that the Lack's family should receive some compensation for Henrietta's cells. Not because they have a legal right to compensation (which is questionable) but because it is the right thing to do.

Although the book is supposed to be about Henrietta, almost half (sometimes seemed like more) of the book is about one of Henrietta's daughters. This may interest those who develop a personal interest in the Lacks clan, but has little to do with the cells and was distracting.

You will be disappointed if you want to learn about the cells themselves, as the author only provides general descriptions and there is little technical information provided...this book is about people. That being said, there are some very good sections where the truly unethical behavior of doctors using these and other cells is described. They are quite disturbing stories.

The last hour of the book is a discussion by the author over the ethics of cells and tissues and who really owns them.

Great Listen

I thought the weaving of the different characters was expertly done, loved the audible interview with the author at the end. great read - couldn't stop listening!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

I was hesitant to listen to this book. I am not really into science and the workings of bodily functions. Cells have personally bored me.

However, I could not help but notice the very positive reviews surrounding this book. The subject matter did not seem so appealing.

I was wrong and am very glad to have listened to this book. Not only did I enjoy it and learn a lot ... my house is very clean. I stayed up late, listening as I cleaned. The book is totally engaging on many levels: culturally (not a pun ), personally, scientifically. It also brings great hope and an insight into how far we have grown as human beings.

I recommend The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, very glad that Rebecca Skloot had the persistence and courage to write it.

A Journey to Find The Woman Who Was HeLa

Skloot's fascinating book is somewhere in between a biography (Henrietta Lacks and her family), "Emperor of All Maladies" (cancer and cancer research) and "Warmth of Other Suns" (civil rights and the medical treatment of black patients in the 1950s).

Rebecca Skloot pursues the story of the woman behind the HeLa cells and finds Henrietta Lacks who died of cervical cancer in 1951. Along the way Rebecca meets Henrietta's children and grandchildren - tells us about the woman, and what medical discoveries that have come from her cells (including cures for polio and HPV and helping researchers understand cervical cancer).

The book also explores medical treatment of blacks in the 1950s before civil rights (separate wards in Baltimore's Johns Hopkins) and the ethics of using body parts/organs/biopsies for experiments and how the profit derived from new medical products should be shared with the family.

Different Insight into Medical Research

All of us in some way benefit from medical research, but few of us take the time to understand it. This remarkable book set out to discover the woman behind the "HeLa" cells that are used throughout the world. However, it encompasses far more than the story of Henrietta Lacks. It also gives a very clear and thorough explanation of medical research in the 1950's as well giving the reader insight into the impact that the use of these cells had on both Henrietta and her family. Reading this book will provide a great deal of "food for thought" regarding moral and ethical decisions with regard to the research that is so beneficial to so many.

A Straightforward Look at Truth

This is really a fascinating story. The author awakens readers to an awareness of our need to ask questions about how our "everyday" blessings came to be. Scientists, like their test subjects, do not live in a vacuum, and though much good came from the HeLa cells, we are left to consider the implications of the naively predatory practices of the age. Were we to rewrite history, would we choose to leave Henrietta Lacks to herself and her familys' memory, or would we "consume" her again for all the scientific and medical good her sample cells promised? The author tells the HeLa story extremely well--it is both intellectual enough and personable enough to keep the average reader engaged. She explains her motivations and resists the urge to demonize science and medicine. Best of all she tells the Lacks' story with straightforword empathy. I am very glad I read this book.

Excellent Journalistic Story and well narrated

I was so impressed with the research behind this story. I learned a great deal, it had me happy, sad, disappointed, and hopeful. The family deserves this book and more. And I am just an old white woman.

across many genres

What made this book so intriguing was it's combination of family drama, character study, and medical/ science history. It reads like great fiction, but is made even more fascinating by the fact that it is all true.

Good book.

I really liked the way this book brought the scientific research down from its lofty aims. The book explored the human experience of research, and raised questions about whose rights prevail.

This is a must read

The story could never have taken place without the passion and devotion of the author to find out who was Henrietta Lacks. She had gained the trust of the family to discover that through the lack of communication they did not know all that was being done with her cells. The book takes you on a journey of discovery of all that was done and is being done in research and how this has effected the human lives of her ancestors.