When my friend told me about this book a year ago, I said, "Is it fiction? I thought her name was Helen Lane." That was the name I remembered from both my cell biology textbook and my immunology lab class, where we learned to make hybridomas using HeLa cells. They said the cell line originally came from a woman who'd had cervical cancer, but there was no other info about her. Not surprising, patient privacy and all. I imagined that she'd knowingly donated them to science. Turns out that's not quite the case. 
 This book isn't fiction, but there were moments so sad, I wished it were. The donor's name was indeed Henrietta Lacks, the "Helen Lane" attribution having been an attempt to protect her identity. There was no such thing as informed consent back when the samples were taken and neither she nor her family got any notice of the successes that scientists had with her cells (though much of that was after she died) or any compensation. Because her name was kept under wraps, it was many years before her family heard about the HeLa cell line at all. When they were finally contacted, they were confused, frightened, and felt very much wronged. 
 One of the doctors said of Lacks: 
 "From a clinical point of view, Mrs. Lacks never did well. ... As Charles Dickens said at the beginning of [A] Tale of Two Cities, 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." But it was the best of times for science in that this very particular tumor gave rise to the HeLa cell line. ... For Mrs. Lacks and the family she left behind, it was the worst of times. Scientific progress and indeed progress of all kinds is often made at great cost, such as the sacrifice made by Henrietta Lacks." 
 I won't give anything away, but the science lore in the book runs the gamut from inspiring to fascinating to horrifying. The stories of Henrietta and her children are heartbreaking, though there are some moments of hope, too. I came away feeling grateful to Skloot for writing this book and sharing the real story not only with the public, but with Lacks's family. It can't possibly make up for all they endured, but perhaps it could bring them some peace. There's now a foundation in place, funded in part by proceeds from the book, to help the Lacks descendents and others that were (or are descended from) uncompensated research subjects. I hope it does well for them.