This book tells the story of a woman scientist who I had never heard of. Her work on DNA is only a part of the book. She died of ovarian cancer in her late thirties. The book suggests that she might have married a fellow scientist, Don Caspar, had she not become ill. The science is accessible and held my interest. Maddox by no means paints her as a saint but presents both the positive and negative. It sounded like she may have been arrogant at times but she certainly had no picnic in making her way in science in the fifties. Very moving story.