In a previous review for this blog (September 22, 2025) I wrote: The best novelists are able to create a cast of characters who come from vastly different life experiences and are on differing trajectories when their paths cross and lives intertwine within the framework of a compelling story. I'm repeating that here because author Amanda Skenandore achieves this in The Second Life of Mirielle West, a story of a fictional 1920s Los Angeles socialite whose soft and self-centered life is derailed by a devastating personal tragedy followed by the contraction of leprosy. Yes, leprosy.
With Mirielle, we enter the world of the leper colony - as they were called 100 years ago - and all the horrors endured by residents after they are forcibly admitted by law to what was in fact a real-life institution located outside of New Orleans for more than a century. Founded in 1894 and originally called the Louisiana Leper Home, it was the only hospital in the country that provided care for people with leprosy. Before a cure was developed, the fear and stigma surrounding this illness was ruinous to patients and families.
The book's fictional characters are drawn skillfully enough that you can't stop thinking about them. Their sorrows and disappointments become yours while you learn about an astonishing chapter of medical history that most of us know very little about. That in itself is a rich payload, delivered in an un-put-downable story. A very worthwhile read as both a satisfying novel and an instructive bit of history.
-Marianne W.
No comments:
Post a Comment