How quickly a life can change -- in only a moment, Mirielle West's pampered world becomes a distant and painful memory. It happens when she learns she has leprosy and is quickly shuttled off, under a fake name, to Louisiana's Carville leper colony. Far from her silent film star husband, Charlie, and her two young daughters, Mirielle is quarantined and locked away from her family never knowing when or if she will see them again. As Pauline Martin, Mirielle is completely out of her element, burning with the shame and embarrassment this diagnosis brings. She has no desire to become part of this community of fellow lepers nor does she have any hope that a cure will release her back to California and all those she holds dear. It's the 1920s and the ignorance about the disease itself, its mode of transmission, and the stigma of being diagnosed all threaten to overwhelm her as she struggles to not only survive, but somehow thrive.
Reminiscent of the novel, "Moloka'i" by Alan Brennert, this poignant, fictional account of a real part of American History won't leave my mind. I had no idea about Carville and what happened there. The story is very sad, but I often find that books like this somehow reach my soul and make me want to be a better person. I can't imagine what it would be like to be remanded to a place such as that and, even more so, it scares me to think of how I would react. It's easy to say from this point in 2021 that the treatment of those with leprosy was horrible, but we have the advantage of years of medical knowledge and technology so we can't judge the ones charged with the care of these patients. Modern medicine brought an effective medicine and a cure to those with Hansen's Disease and for that I am incredibly thankful. It does still occur even these days, but the isolation and horror no longer has to happen to those who contract it.
The author, a nurse, writes with authority and the medical details about the historical efforts to combat the disease are authentic. I enjoyed this glimpse into a past American health care crisis and definitely appreciate that it was not the last time that humans were confronted with a very troubling medical issue.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - historical fiction 1920s, leper colony America
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