It remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 75 weeks and occupied the number one spot for a major portion of that time. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was published to critical acclaim in 2010. The end product of Skloot’s research, interviews, and investigation is the book.
The desire to learn about Henrietta resulted in a decade-long research project, one that drew in Henrietta’s family, the institutions who took advantage of Henrietta, and the numerous scientists who used her cells. While the lecturer’s focus was on the scientific achievements and medical breakthroughs Henrietta’s cells facilitated, Skloot was drawn to the woman herself-who was she? Did she know how important her cells were? What about her family? The professor didn’t have any answers for Skloot, and this fueled her interest even further. Skloot first learned about Henrietta when a biology professor passingly mentioned her during a lecture about the importance and impact of the HeLa cell line. However, Henrietta's surviving descendants continue to live in poverty despite their connection to these scientific breakthroughs. These cells, known as the HeLa line, became the cornerstone for scientific research for much of the late 20th century. Lacks, a tobacco farmer from Virginia, died in 1951 from cervical cancer, but not before her cells were harvested without her knowledge or consent for scientific and medical use. Blending the line between nonfiction and narrative, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacksis the story of Henrietta Lacks, her family, and the reporter who sought to uncover her story.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the first and bestselling book by science journalist Rebecca Skloot.
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