I love a good book recommendation. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot was recommended to me by Anne, the American girlfriend of my friend Sam. I decided to save it up, along with a couple of other US recommendations, for my trip to Philadelphia in June. This is truly a book that everyone should read.

I had never heard of HeLa cells. It turns out that their use is one of those crucial innovations that, unless you are an expect in the subject, you rely on for your health and the health of your family, without even knowing it. HeLa cells are what have enabled polio vaccines, advances in cancer research and many other great leaps forward in healthcare. They are an immortal cell line and they come from a woman called Henrietta Lacks. And the only reason we know this is thanks to the diligent and tenacious work of writer Rebecca Skloot.

In this great book she painstakingly uncovers the true story of how these cells were taken from Henrietta, without her consent, when she was dying of cancer in 1951. She traces Henrietta’s descendents and goes on a quest to help them get Henrietta’s role in science recognised, whilst highlighting the ethical issues involved in tissue cell research. Henrietta’s family have not benefitted from the widespread use in science of their mothers cells, and indeed cannot afford the healthcare they so desperately need. But thanks entirely to the author, there is now at least a foundation set up for the education of Henrietta’s descendents.

This is a fascinating book that combines detective work, science and the very human story of the impact of the immortal cells of Henrietta Lacks.