The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks

A few words about this book

Prologue: the woman in the photograph

Deborah's voice

Part One: Life

The exam 1951

Clover 1920-1942

Diagnosis and treatment 1951

The birth of HeLa 1951

"Blackness be spreadin all inside" 1951

"Lady's on the phone" 1999

The death and life of cell culture 1951

"A miserable specimen" 1951

Turner Station 1999

The other side of the tracks 1999

"The devil of pain itself" 1951

Part Two: Death

The storm 1951

The HeLa factory 1951-1953

Helen Lane 1953-1954

"Too young to remember" 1951-1965

"Spending eternity in the same place" 1999

Illegal, immoral, and deplorable 1954-1966

"Strangest hybrid" 1960-1966

"The most critical time on this earth is now" 1966-1973

The HeLa bomb 1966

Night doctors 2000

"The fame she so richly deserves" 1970-1973

Part Three: Immortality

"It's alive" 1973-1974

"Least they can do" 1975

"Who told you you could sell my spleen?" 1976-1988

Breach of privacy 1980-1985

The secret of immortality 1984-1995

After London 1996-1999

A village of Henriettas 2000

Zakariyya 2000

Hela, goddess of death 2000-2001

"All that's my mother" 2001

The hospital for the Negro insane 2001

The medical records 2001

Soul cleansing 2001

Heavenly bodies 2001

"Nothing to be scared about" 2001

The long road to Clover 2009

Where they are now

About the Henrietta Lacks Foundation

Afterword

Cast of characters

Timeline

Reading group guide.