Book
The second life of Mirielle West / Amanda Skenandore.
In this thought-provoking and sensitive novel, inspired by the true story of a Louisiana leprosy hospital where patients were forcibly quarantined, acclaimed author Amanda Skenandore tells an extraordinarily timely tale of resilience, hope, and the last woman who expected to find herself in such a place.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781496726513 (trade paperback)
- Physical Description: 376 pages ; 21 cm
- Publisher: New York : Kensington Publishing Corp., [2021]
- Copyright: ©2021
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Includes reading group guide. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Leprosy > Patients > Fiction. Quarantine > Fiction. Carville (La.) > Fiction. |
| Genre: | Historical fiction. Medical fiction. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeshore Branch | FIC Skena | 31681010244242 | FICTIONPBK | Available | - |
- Baker & Taylor
Based on the true story of America's only leper colony, the Louisiana institution known as Carville, where thousands of people were stripped of their civil rights, branded as lepers, and forcibly quarantined throughout the entire 20th century. For Mirielle West, a 1920's socialite married to a silent film star, the isolation and powerlessness of the Louisiana Leper Home is an unimaginable fall from her intoxicatingly chic life of bootlegged champagne and the star-studded parties of Hollywood's Golden Age. At first she hopes her exile will be brief, but those sent to Carville are more prisoners than patients and their disease has no cure. Instead she must find community and purpose within its walls, struggling to redefine her self-worth while fighting an unchosen fate. - Baker & Taylor
Exiled to rural Louisiana in the 1920s after being diagnosed with leprosy, socialite Mirielle, unable to accept her new reality, stays away from other residents until she finds both community and purpose and must choose to stay or return to a life she isnât sure she has anymore. - Random House, Inc.
The glamorous world of a silent film starâs wife abruptly crumbles when sheâs forcibly quarantined at the Carville Lepers Home in this page-turning story of courage, resilience, and reinvention set in 1920s Louisiana and Los Angeles. Based on little-known history, this timely book will strike a chord with readers of Fiona Davis, Tracey Lange, and Marie Benedict.
* A 2023 Silicon Valley Reads Selection *
* Reader's Digest Editor's Choice *
For Mirielle West, a 1920âs socialite married to a silent film star, the isolation and powerlessness of the Louisiana Leper Home is an unimaginable fall from her intoxicatingly chic life of bootlegged champagne and the star-studded parties of Hollywoodâs Golden Age. When a doctor notices a pale patch of skin on her hand, sheâs immediately branded a leper and carted hundreds of miles from home to Carville, taking a new name to spare her family and famous husband the shame that accompanies the disease.
At first she hopes her exile will be brief, but those sent to Carville are more prisoners than patients and their disease has no cure. Instead she must find community and purpose within its walls, struggling to redefine her self-worth while fighting an unchosen fate.
As a registered nurse, Amanda Skenandoreâs medical background adds layers of detail and authenticity to the experiences of patients and medical professionals at Carville â the isolation, stigma, experimental treatments, and disparate community. A tale of repulsion, resilience, and the Roaring â20s, The Second Life of Mirielle West is also the story of a health crisis in Americaâs past, made all the more poignant by the authorâs experiences during another, all-too-recent crisis.Â
âScrupulous in her research and practically clairvoyant in her choice of urgent subjects â from the Indigenous boarding schools of her first novel to the disease and quarantine of The Second Life of Mirielle West â historical novelist Amanda Skenandore has quietly become one of the valleyâs finest authors.â â The Las Vegas Review Journal
