In The Field a novel

(Hardback)

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In 1923, 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.

Reviews

An inspiring story of triumph against the odds in a historical based loosely on the life of Nobel-winning scientist Barbara McClintock . . . spirited. This swift story educates as much as it excites.
. . . offers a compelling journey through the frustrating, stymied, yet often fascinating world of scientific innovation. . . . Pastan displays the distinctly human side of scientific discoveryits many pitfalls, thrills, and missteps.
Rachel Pastan (Alena) offers a compassionate, clear-eyed story of self-determination, love and science. In the Field excels in its multifaceted view of a complex woman: scientist, lover, friend, student of life in both biology and philosophy. Readers will be better for time spent with this patient, tender, loving examination of a life devoted to examination of life. Kate is a character who will stay with readers for a long time.

Author Bio

Rachel Pastanis the author of three previous novels, most recentlyAlena, which was named an Editors Choice inThe New York Times Book Review. The daughter of a molecular geneticist and a poet, she has worked as editor at large at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and taught fiction writing at the Bennington Writing Seminars, Swarthmore College, and elsewhere.