In 1963 June Miru, a young Maori woman from northern New Zealand, lost her first child, a boy, within hours of him being born. At the time her father shook his head resignedly and told her she had been cursed. He called it the Makutu.

25 years later, when three of her daughters each lost a son in the same tragic way in the same year, the word Makutu was spoken again. It would be many long years, another three deaths in the family, and an extraordinary relationship with a New Zealand geneticist before they learned the real reason for their loss, before the shadow of the Makutu was lifted.

This is a story about a family struck by tragedy – the loss of seven little boys from severe deformities at birth; a New Zealand scientist determined to find an answer to the family’s misery; the fascinating world of molecular research and his resultant world breakthrough; and about the ever-present importance of Genetics in our lives – the choices and ethical dilemmas we all might one day have to face.

It is also a story about love – of an extraordinary bond of trust and friendship across cultures that evolved from a promise, and of the love a mother bestows on a child, no matter what.