Until recently, hepatitis C—which infects 170 million people throughout the world—was always fatal. But today there is finally a remarkable cure.

Elizabeth Rains describes how she was likely infected with hepatitis C during her wild hippie days, how she was diagnosed more than four decades later, and how she became one of the early patients to be cured, including the obstacles she encountered in gaining access to the $100,000 drugs. She describes the symptoms—and non-symptoms—of hep C, the stigma that still accompanies a diagnosis, the grueling interferon treatments that many hep C patients have had to undergo, and the new antivirals that have exploded onto the pharmaceutical market and that provide a cure but at a tremendously high price.

Because most people who have hepatitis C have no idea they harbor the disease, Rains’ riveting account will compel readers to get tested for this silent killer.