Indelible is a story about inheritance. What we pass on from one generation to the next is not only determined by genetics but also evolves from the lessons of our family.

Elinor “El” Bonds is a molecular biologist for the mid-sized Sun Biotech and finds herself smack in the midst of a different kind of nature versus nurture dilemma. As she races to cure a deadly disease that killed her husband and threatens her teenaged son, she crashes headlong into a pharmaceutical roadblock that threatens her ability to delve into the genetic chaos that has put her son’s life at risk.

Corporate politics are not the only interference in El’s quest. Her own family, particularly the very son she’s trying to save, needs tending, and spending her nights in the lab trying to preserve his life for the future is doing nothing for his life in the here and now. It is a terrifying parental dilemma and one that leads El to make decisions that seemingly toss the fragility of her family into a centrifuge and send it whirling.

Indelible is the story of a scientist and her family. It is the conflict that arises when a passion for the creative process of discovery runs neck and neck with the desire to save one’s own flesh and blood. The question then arises: is how you meet your goal as important as the goal itself? 
For each decision, there is a consequence, and for El Bonds, the stakes are high. She must lose precious moments with her son in an attempt to save his life.

While writing Indelible, I sought to interpret the humanity of the characters in the mistakes they make and the love that ultimately binds them to each other. I chose to set the story in Harlem, not only because I was living there at the time, but because it has the awesome presence necessary to harbor both the vulnerability and the volatility inherent in the definition of home.

Indelible, ultimately, is the story about love. It is about a mother with the skill set to secure the adult life of her son and the price she must pay to make it a reality. It is about a woman who will not take no for an answer and who pursues her goal almost to its ultimate cost. El discovers that science and family are similar in that each involves sacrifice in the pursuit for a better tomorrow.

For El Bonds, there are no easy answers, but the questions she poses lead us on a fascinating journey, one that proves discovery takes place both inside and outside the laboratory. 

                                                                    - Mikki del Monico