Nobel-winning Karikó's memoir signed by The Bodley Head

The Bodley Head has bought the memoir by Katalin Karikó, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023.

Will Hammond, deputy publishing director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein.  

The Bodley Head will publish in hardback on 25th January 2024. It will release in e-book and audio editions on 7th December 2023 in advance of the Nobel Prize award ceremony on 10th December. The book was published by Crown in the US last month. 

“From butcher’s daughter in Communist Hungary to winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023, Breaking Through: My Life in Science by Katalin Karikó is the story of one woman’s extraordinary determination through decades of obscurity and rejection – and her breakthrough discovery that saved millions of lives," the publisher said.

"It is an extraordinary memoir of how she achieved her dream of becoming a scientist, first in Hungary and then in the US, and pursued her belief – despite so many telling her not to – that an elusive molecule called mRNA could transform our ability to prevent disease.  

"For three decades she worked in obscurity, battling cockroaches in a windowless lab, enduring demotion, the derision of her colleagues, even threats of deportation. But in 2020, Karikó’s vision was spectacularly vindicated when her work made possible a staggering achievement that changed all our lives: the production of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines that protected millions from Covid-19, bringing an end to the pandemic and paving the way for similar vaccines against HIV, malaria and other life-threatening diseases.” 
The publisher promised the book will be “as frank, wise and fearless as Karikó herself, Breaking Through is a remarkable story of tenacity, friendship and loyalty, and one woman’s unshakeable commitment to her values” with plaudits already from Lessons in Chemistry author Bonnie Garmus and Bill Gates among others. 

Since 2020, Karikó has been awarded over 100 prizes and 16 honorary doctorates. She has had two children’s books written about her and a planet named after her. Now an honorary professor at numerous universities around the world, she continues in her work to advance new medical treatments where the need is most urgent. She and her husband Béla are the parents of two-time Olympic rowing champion Susan Francia. 

Photography: www.chrisboland.com/london-family-photographer/