Henrietta Lacks, a poor Southern tobacco farmer, was buried in an unmarked grave 60 years ago. Yet her cells --- taken without her knowledge --- became one of the most important tools in medical research. Known to science as HeLa, the first "immortal" human cells grown in culture are still alive today, and have been bought and sold by the millions. Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey from the "colored" ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to East Baltimore today, where Henrietta's family struggles with her legacy.

When she's faced with a devastating truth about the deceased husband she adored, Lamour Harrington needs a place to recharge. She returns to the house on the Amalfi coast where she'd lived with her father during the happiest years of her childhood. But the house of her memories has secrets all its own. Was her father's death truly accidental? Or was he hiding something that caused his early demise? Torn between two mysterious and compelling men, Lamour discovers that the past has a way of returning when you least expect it. And someone wants to ensure that Lamour doesn't uncover the secrets of this idyllic, dreamy coastal getaway.