Out of the Shadows by Jason Wallace (Carnegie finalist)

This book generated the best discussion so far, which surprised me as I really hadn’t been sure at all what the girls’ reaction to it would be. The school staff, whilst not disliking it as such, had found it quite a bleak read with nothing positive happening in it to draw you out of the misery.

This novel is set in Zimbabwean boarding school for boys, in the early years of the Mugabe government after a long, bitter struggle for black independence. Long held school traditions are being overturned by the admission of a few black teachers and students and this breeds resentment amongst many of the pupils.

New pupil, Robert Jacklin, freshly arrived from England, initially makes friends with a young black boy, the first pupil he meets there. But in the end, he turns his back on his friend in an attempt to avoid the vicious bullying of Ivan, and he is drawn into his gang’s violent and racist games.

The girls felt that they could empathise with Robert’s predicament and inner turmoil and felt greatly sorry for him as his home life was a mess too. Although they did not understand a lot of the history and political references, they felt that this did not detract from their enjoyment of the book. This scored the highest so far amongst the group.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

It beggars belief to learn that once your cells leave your body, you are considered to have voluntarily given them up and they no longer belong to you.  This is as true to day as it was in 1951, when Henrietta Lacks, a poor young Afro-American woman was admitted to a hospital in Baltimore with an exceptionally invasive and aggressive form of cancer.

A biopsy was taken of these cells without her knowledge or consent.  At this time, human tissue culture was in its infancy and researchers struggled to keep the cells alive.  Yet, they found that Henrietta's cells not only lived, but thrived and multiplied and seemed nigh impossible to kill.  Soon, these cells, named 'HeLa' were being used in medical research experiments worldwide, and became big business.

In this book, Rebecca Skloot aims to tell the personal story of Henrietta, her life of poverty, her illness and death, and the way her death has contributed to huge advances in science.  She talks to the people who knew Henrietta, and to her family who were initially hostile and suspicious of her motives.  Despite the fortunes that Henrietta's cells made for those who controlled them, her family never received a penny and remained unable to afford healthcare.  The story exposes the racism and hypocrisy of the medical industry of that time.  Despite being a science book, it is very accessible and easy to understand and reads more like a fiction novel.  It is a book that enrages and inspires, and I recommend it to all.