The Behavior of the Hawkweeds by Andrea Barrett

A woman is telling the story of her husband who is a professor. The story revolves around Gregor Mendel's famous paper on hybridization of peas. The story is given a twist as there is an account of an attempted rape of a girl who was helping in the plant nursery. For the rest of the story is the detailed description of the secret story of how Mendel's paper came to be...