The Panacea Project
by Catherine Devore Johnson

Calla Hammond has always been a loner—a product of the foster system and avoided by others because of a skin condition. When doctors discover her immune system holds the key to curing cancer, she struggles to advance lifesaving research in a world that sees her only as a means to an end. Yet along the way, Calla gains the one thing she has always longed for: a chosen family. But when a group of unscrupulous people join forces to sell Calla’s blood to the highest bidder, she has to dig deep to find the strength to retake control of her life, her body, and her story.

4 out of 5

What would you do if you found out you might be able to cure cancer – not by lab research, but with what’s literally in your body and blood? This book raised an interesting question – where does the moral line lie when one person could help better the lives of so many? Are the lives of the many more important than the life of the one? Calla’s life is thrown into turmoil once the world learns that her blood can cure cancer – and my heart really went out to her. This book is engaging and really draws the reader in. Calla is an excellent character, and I enjoyed following her story. I can’t say what I would do if I was thrust into her shoes. I wouldn’t have minded a little more depth to the story, really diving further into the morality of everything, but overall it was a great read.

More Praise

“There’s nothing better than reading a novel that deftly weaves the most pressing issues of the day—the war for control over women’s bodies, bigotry, stigma, patriarchy, capitalism—into an engaging and thoroughly human page-turner. Catherine Devore Johnson has managed to do exactly that in her beautiful debut.” —Emily Wolf, author of My Thirty-First Year (And Other Calamities)

“Calla’s story captivated me until the end. This fast-paced novel brought up so many emotions and made me think about the ways that humankind sucks the marrow out of things that sustain us until those things are gone. This story will stay with me for a long time.” —Tabitha Forney, author of Paper Airplanes

“A beautiful combination of engaging fiction and bitter reality. . . Touching upon complicated emotions, The Panacea Project leaves an unforgettable mark upon its readers.” —Readers’ Favorite

“In an era where medicine and vaccines are hotly debated, this well-written and thoughtful story will inspire both hope and terror about what the futures holds.” —Editor’s Pick, Publishers Weekly BookLife

“The Panacea Project is both inventive and thoughtful and captures the way in which the scientific search for truth and humanitarian relief can take on an inhumane form.” —Kirkus Indie Review

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Catherine Devore Johnson is a former attorney turned writer. Her work has won or placed in competitions held by the Houston Writer’s Guild and the Writer’s League of Texas, and she has published an essay in The Houston Chronicle about caring for her mother after two strokes. She works as a writer and editor at a children’s hospital and lives in Houston with her husband and two children. The Panacea Project is her first novel.

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