
Breaking Through
A Memoir
$27.46
- Paperback
336 pages
- Release Date
10 June 2025
Summary
How one woman’s extraordinary determination saved millions of lives: the inspiring memoir from the Winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine
Katalin Karik began life as a butcher’s daughter in communist Hungary. Raised in a one-room home of clay and straw with no running water, she saw potential everywhere: in the promise of a seed, in the alchemy of soap, in the scarlet of a carcass.
Breaking Through is the extraordinary story of her courageous determination - first…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781529936391 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 152993639X |
| Author: | Katalin Karikó |
| Publisher: | Vintage Publishing |
| Imprint: | Vintage |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 336 |
| Release Date: | 10 June 2025 |
| Weight: | 244g |
| Dimensions: | 22mm x 129mm x 197mm |

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Critics Review
Few have overcome adversity like Karikó … This remarkable memoir … is a joy to read * Financial Times *
[The] engrossing, touching tale … of a scientist now recognised as one of the world’s greatest … a vividly written, absorbing memoir * GUARDIAN *
It is almost impossible not to feel moved by this story of an extraordinarily resilient woman * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *
Riveting. A true story of a brilliant biochemist who never gave up or gave in. – BONNIE GARMUS
Karikó’s story is an inspiration – BILL GATES
Will make you laugh, think and maybe even readjust the way you see the world – KATJA HOYER
A classic in the genre of underdogs succeeding against the odds * New Scientist *
Little did the public know that this feat [a Covid vaccine] was largely down to one woman’s relentless perseverance. Breaking Through … charts the painstaking journey she undertook as a woman and an immigrant to convince the scientific community to take her work seriously … rich with colourful metaphors that bring the immune system to life … Karikó also lays bare a startling truth: even life-saving scientific discovery is not immune to ego, favouritism and sexism * NEW STATESMAN *
A riveting testament to resilience and the power of unwavering belief – JENNIFER DOUDNA, Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry
The rousing story of a remarkable woman and her lifesaving contributions to medicine * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *
Katalin Karikó
Katalin Karikó is a biochemist and winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Her pioneering research was the foundation of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and paves the way for a host of treatments for cancer, HIV, malaria and other life-threatening diseases. Now an honorary professor at many universities, she has been awarded over a hundred prizes, had two children’s books written about her and a minor planet named after her. She and her husband Bela are the parents of two-time Olympic rowing champion Susan Francia.
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