In Mapping Fate, Alice Wexler tells the story of a family at risk for a hereditary, incurable, fatal disorder: Huntington's disease, once called Huntington's chorea. That her mother died of the disease, that her own chance of inheriting it was fifty-fifty, that her sister and father directed much of the extraordinary biomedical research to find the gene and a cure, make Wexler's story both astonishingly intimate and scientifically compelling.

Alice Wexler's graceful and eloquent account goes beyond the specifics of Huntington's disease to explore the dynamics of family secrets, of living at risk, and the drama and limits of biomedical research. Mapping Fate will be a touchstone for anyone with questions about genetic illness and the possibilites and perils of genetic testing.

Alice Wexler is affiliated with the Center for the Study of Women at University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of Emma Goldman in America (1984) and Emma Goldman in Exile (1989).

"[Mapping Fate is] made of heartbreak but so full of fascinating information of every kind that it has the extraordinary power to transcend pain. . . . This is an intense, beautiful, serious book. It reminds us that life can be awful, but that human beings carry the capacity to be heroic beyond measure."—Carolyn See, Washington Post

"[Mapping Fate] deserves a wide audience. Readers interested in the psychological dimensions of illness, especially inherited illness, will find it riveting. . . . [It] is excellent as an introduction to human genetics. . . . I cannot think of another book that contains information about family dynamics, clinical genetics, and bench research in such a readable form."—Roger L. Albin, M. D., Journal of the American Medical Association

"A fabulous read. . . . a book about love, scientific research, family fights, duplicity, compassion, courage and pain. It is brilliantly written by one of the principal characters in this real-life drama. You'll be riveted."—Ann Landers