Book Club: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Location: Orangevale
Date: March 23, 2019
Type: Reading/Writing
Every month we'll pick a novel or a non-fiction title to read and discuss. Join us for a great book conversation and make new friends! This month we'll be reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance.