New
from
Rachel Pastan:
In the Field | Delphinium Books
Winner of the National Book Foundation’s inaugural 2022 Science + Literature awards
COMMITTEE’S CITATION:
In vivid, well-crafted prose, Rachel Pastan’s novel In the Field brings us into the professional and private life of a dedicated female geneticist, born in the 1920s, whose challenges and sacrifices illustrate how science, far from being impersonal, is practiced by people—how the pursuit of knowledge is shaped by the social norms and preconceptions that limit our behavior as individuals, and delay the acceptance of new ideas by the scientific community.
Event photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Event photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Event photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Event photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Event photo by Beowulf Sheehan
What People Are Saying:
“a compelling journey through the frustrating, stymied, yet often fascinating world of scientific innovation. Kate is a satisfying character to root for—stubborn, tender, and occasionally myopic ... Pastan’s ability to display the distinctly human side of scientific discovery—its many pitfalls, thrills, and missteps—keeps the novel’s heart alive. Engaging and heartfelt.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“Pastan makes a spirited character study...of...doggedness and triumph, and describes various complex scientific concepts with aplomb. This swift story educates as much as it excites.”
— Publisher’s Weekly
“Pastan's Kate is feisty, principled, sensitive, and caring, a complex woman competing for recognition in complicated times. Untold-until-now tales of trailblazing women in the sciences capture the popular imagination, and Pastan's novel about determined geneticist Kate Croft is a worthy addition to this compelling and inspiring trend.”
— Booklist
“Rachel Pastan’s thoughtful new novel In the Field ... looks back on past scientific achievement and asks: ‘What was?’ Pastan is alert to how social history shapes the acquisition of knowledge. What we learn, not just of love and family and grief (to name a few literary fiction favorites) but also of biology and cytogenetics, for instance, is not fruit simply sitting there, waiting to be plucked. It is experiential. It will involve, as Pastan’s protagonist remarks late in the novel, ‘Luck, contingency, persistence. Endurance. Or call it stubbornness!’”
Read:
A Barbara McClintock–inspired novel
on the Cold Spring Harbor website - where much of Kate’s work takes place.
Read:
So You Want to Write a Novel About a Legendary Corn Geneticist…
On What It Takes to Fictionalize a Life | on LitHub
