Colony

Anne Hatley is a twenty-five-year-old spitfire from the South, born with a genetic mutation: She has only one leg and walks with a computerized limb. Looking for an escape from the drudgery of work and the fiance who bores and irritates her more than makes her happy, Anne hopes to make easy money off her genes by accepting an invitation from a research colony in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Scientists there--DNA pioneer James D. Watson among them--are looking to develop a groundbreaking "cure" and make Anne the first patient to generate a new leg. Anne feels fine the way she is. But after years of casual cruelty at the hands of her peers, and three months of observation by callous doctors playing on her every insecurity, she capitulates. While in residence, Anne drifts into a relationship with the rakish Nick, carrier of the "suicide gene"; becomes friends with Charles Darwin, who inexplicably pops up for chats when she's distressed; and comes to terms with her first love, a married man she's nicknamed "Old Faithful." Meanwhile, she questions what it means to change from one physical form to another and becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the societal pressure to do so.