The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore. Kensington Books, 2021. Adult historical fiction.
Young socialite Mirielle West is living the dream in the 1920's California of early movie making until a doctor finds a small lesion on her neck. She is sent to Carville, Louisiana to the nation's only leper colony as it is known at that time. The transition is swift as Mirielle assumes a new name and new life. The climate is different. The people are different. The disease makes everything different. Will she ever be able to return to life in California?
Told with sympathy and understanding, the novel describes patients with Hansen's Disease and the horrible prejudices against them. They were forced to relocate to Carville, stay there, and often were shunned by their own families. They underwent sometimes experimental treatments in efforts to "find a cure" for leprosy. In modern times, patients take modern medicines and live basically normal lives anywhere. It is now known that the disease is not spread by touching others.
Mirielle indeed has a second life. She is smart and determined and open to love. She learns new skills and makes her own way in helping others. The novel is well written and tells a fictional story about a truly fascinating time and place. Its fictional heroine is based on fact, but deserves a wide reading of her fictional exploits. This is one book that readers will not soon forget.
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