In the Field, Rachel Pastan
In the Field, Rachel Pastan
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In the Field
A Novel

Author: Rachel Pastan

Narrator: Xe Sands

Unabridged: 9 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/19/2021

Synopsis

In 1920, having persuaded her resistant mother to send her to college, Kate Croft falls in love with science. Painfully rebuffed by a girl she longs for, and in flight from her own confusing sexuality, Kate finds refuge in the calm rationality of biology: its vision of a deeply interconnected world, and the promise that the new field of genetics can explain the way people are.

But science, too, turns out to be marred by human weakness. Despite her hard work and extraordinary gifts, Kate struggles, facing discrimination, competition, and scientific theft. At the same time, a love affair is threatened by Kate's obsession with figuring out the meaning of the puzzling changes she sees in her experiments. The novel explores what it takes to triumph in the ruthless world of mid-20th-century genetics, following Kate as she decides what she is—and is not—willing to sacrifice to succeed.

About Rachel Pastan

Rachel Pastan's novel Alena was named an Editors' Choice in the New York Times Book Review. She is also the author of two other novels, Lady of the Snakes and This Side of Married, which was a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. Her short fiction has been published in the Georgia Review, the Threepenny Review, Mademoiselle, Prairie Schooner, and many other places. In 2014 she edited Seven Writers, a chapbook of writing inspired by exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, where she served as editor-at-large for several years and developed the popular blog Miranda. Pastan grew up in suburban Maryland, the daughter of a molecular geneticist and a poet, and attended Harvard College and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is a member of the core faculty of the Bennington Writers Seminar MFA program. Up until recently, she taught writing at Swarthmore College and now is the editor of the Swathmorean, a small town newspaper.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Christina on February 18, 2022

3 stars. Such a fun way to read "nonfiction" and learn about someone of whom I never had any previous knowledge. Some of the passages with the treatment of a woman of science were infuriating, but overall the story was very inspiring and I've been wanting to look at things under a microscope ever si......more

Goodreads review by Katie on August 07, 2023

This novel is loosely based on the life of geneticist Barbara McClintock. Kate Croft, who stands in for her, is a compelling and sometimes frustrating character. Frustrating, at first because of her shelteredness, then because of her stubbornness. Yet, it is that same stubbornness and absolute devot......more

Goodreads review by Aminul on October 07, 2021

An excellent book. This is about genetics, genius, dogged determination, love in various shapes and forms, chauvinism, gender equality and many other things. The beauty of this book is how all these layers gracefully interweave into one another - never faltering, never wanting a spare word. It is wr......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on November 06, 2023

This was a great book, but it left me feeling sad. I say this not because I don’t recommend it but just to know that it’s not a book for when you’re looking for something uplifting.......more

Goodreads review by John on October 10, 2021

This excellent novel is loosely based on an actual female pioneer geneticist in the mid 2oth Century. It informs about the historical details, giving a taste of how scientific study works, especially in genetics, and the struggles that women face to be taken seriously. It also shows the infighting a......more

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