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)

Amazing Story

The writing, the research, the people, the science. It's an amazing story, sometimes funny, sometimes tragic. Once in a while we have to realize that there are more people than the scientists behind the discoveries.

Very good book.

This was a very informative book and I highly recommend it. The book is brought to life with the history of Henrietta and her family. Enjoy.

Fantastic!

This is a fascinating book. It is so well written. Bravo Ms Skloot! There are several stories that intertwine here;

1. the story of Henrietta,

2. the story of her family, especially her daughter Deborah,

3. then the story of cell cultures, which is sort of the story of modern medical research,

4. and finally and almost the most fascinating for me, the story of how Rebecca wrote this book.

I think any science minded person, or any person interested in history or society or just general knowledge would love this book.

The reading is impeccable. In a reading you don't want the voices to be too animated, or it gets annoying, and you don't want them too flat either. The reading here was just perfect. It adds to the narrative, rather than distracting from it.

Remarkable - no other words exist!

I have to say that this is my best ‘listen’ on Audible for 2014. It’s a superbly written and narrated book based on the life and times of Henrietta Lacks. Not only her life, but the religion of science, period of exotic discovery, lack of ethics in medicine, shameful bigotry, and the ultimate victories of the human spirit.

When I came into this book, all I knew was the word HeLa. I knew nothing of the wondrous discoveries that these cancerous cells gave the world or its actual beginnings within a woman of color. The author is to be commended for her long and thoughtful endeavor to publish this fascinating history. The author’s journey took more than a decade and its final reading escaped the woman who should have heard it the most; Deborah Lacks, the daughter of Henrietta. Deborah had labored and toiled to make her mother be known, heard and understood and yet she dies on the evening of that triumph.

Even though Henrietta and her family never achieved the sought after financial gain or any recognition from her immortal cell line whereas many individuals and companies did, we should ever be grateful to a woman that lived in a segregated decade and suffered in death, with gifting humanity of her cells which are even used today to discover remarkable cures.

Is this the best book EVER?

Haven't read a nonfiction title this gripping in years. Science lesson, testament to racial injustice, family drama, medical mystery and author memoir all rolled into one.

This is a book everyone should read because we are all beholden to Henrietta Lacks for what her stolen cells have given to science and medicine. And this one well-told story.

The narrators are among my faves.

Important story

This is a fascinating and important story about the "HeLa" cell line that explains its origin and use. These are cells that many researchers have studied and used to discover facts of cellular biology, yet many know little of this incredible story. The story is gripping and narrated well.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Recommended. I stayed up until 3 am listening to this book. Difficult to put down. Many stories in one, all of them interesting, and made more so by being tied together. I believe the Lacks family should be compensated but that's not the world we live in. Book made me angry, sad, stunned and also filled me with wonder. Well done Rebecca Skloot.

Thought provoking to say the least

Wonderful read. The first time I press play, I listened to three hours of the book. It grips you from the beginning. The book was great but the afterward to the book was really fantastic. This raises so many questions around consent, exploitation, donation, cell patenting, phara monopolies... great read!

A must for any one interested in science.

This is book is a must for anyone interested in science or discrimination in America.
The story is very well told and narrated.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Powerful. Excellent performance. Learned a great deal of information. Quite emotional. The story behind the story. Fascinating.