As one of the world's leading scientists examining how our DNA shapes differences in temperament, temptation and behaviour, Harden has seen first-hand how we - in public and in our most private relationships - continue to struggle with the ancient tensions between nature and nurture, freedom and constraint, the desire to punish and the longing to forgive.

In Original Sin, she weaves together insights from her own experience as a daughter, mother, wife and scientist with cutting-edge research in genetics and psychology to grapple with some of the most important questions in modern life: How do we take responsibility for the people we become, knowing how we are shaped by both biology and experience? How should we respond when people hurt each other - or themselves? And has science made guilt obsolete?

Navigating the psychological and biological terrain of addiction, antisocial behaviour and violence, Harden confronts the discomforting ways science unsettles our understanding of wrongdoing and choice. In doing so she asks us not to absolve, but to reckon differently with notions of fairness and blame. A revelatory inquiry into the uneasy space where human behaviour meets inherited biology, Original Sin challenges us to imagine a more humane vision of accountability - for ourselves and for one another.

"A daring, complex, sometimes confounding and ultimately powerful tapestry of a book . . . [moves] with propulsive momentum and elegant logic from dog-training and child-rearing to corporal punishment, mass incarceration and, ultimately, hope for the future" - NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"Original Sin is an ambitious, compact and often moving contribution to the literature at the intersection of genetics and ethics. It is magnificent to have an established scientist such as Harden address social, political, religious and deeply personal issues in the context of scientific work meant for public consumption. The book should serve as a nucleation point for broad, intense and enlightening discussion" - SCIENCE

"A brave, open-hearted examination of how our glitchy brains make sense of what our imperfect bodies do" - CHARLES FERNYHOUGH, author of THE VOICES WITHIN

"This perspective-shattering exploration of how genetics complicate our ideas about blame, punishment and moral responsibility is like no other science book I have ever read" - THE BOOKSELLER, 10 Titles Not to Miss in April