The Scientist Who Wasn't There

Synopsis

'A page-turner with a mystery to solve, and a meditation on what it means for a child to know their parents' - Cathy Rentzenbrink'An exceptional, entirely unpredictable, real-life thriller' - Michael Mansfield'An astonishingly original memoir about truth, identity and the ethics of science' The Telegraph'Gripping' The TimesWINNER OF THE BRIDPORT PRIZE FOR MEMOIRRenowned scientist Professor Michael Briggs was many things:A Space expert at NASAAn adviser to the World Health OrganisationA successful Big Pharma executive But Michael Briggs had a secret. A scandal broke out in 1986 when research he conducted was revealed to be compromised. Patients were also claiming that a pregnancy test he pioneered had caused devastating birth defects. Soon after his fall from grace, Briggs was dead, struck down by a mystery illness in a foreign countryBriggs left behind a long list of publications, patents, and inventions. But he also left behind hundreds of people who believe they are victims of his negligence and who are still fighting for justice to this day. And he left someone else: his daughter, Joanne. After decades of wondering who her father really was, Joanne decided to investigate for herself. In hypnotic prose, she uncovers the secret that shaped her father's entire life and made his story more fantastic than any science fiction. As she discovered, Briggs's greatest invention was himself.