Publisher: Kensington Books / HighBridge Audio
Published: July 27, 2021
Source: Print: ARC Paperback via Kensingbooks & Bibliolifestyle / Audio: Library
Summary:
The glamorous world of a silent film star’s wife abruptly crumbles when she’s 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.
Based on the true story of America’s only leper colony, The Second Life of Mirielle West brings vividly to life 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. When a doctor notices a pale patch of skin on her hand, she’s 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 Skenandore’s medical background adds layers of detail and authenticity to the experiences of patients and medical professionals at Carville – the isolation, stigma, experimental treatments, and disparate community. A tale of repulsion, resilience, and the Roaring ‘20s, The Second Life of Mirielle West is also the story of a health crisis in America’s past, made all the more poignant by the author’s experiences during another, all-too-recent crisis.
My thoughts:
This is the first book I’ve read by Amanda Skenandore but it certainly will not be the last, especially if they are anything like this one. I love when I find a new author and know that she has a backlist that I can explore!
Historical fiction is definitely my sweet spot lately and this book is proof of that. This is the first book I’ve read about a leper colony and it was utterly fascinating. I had no idea there was one in Louisiana, nor did I really know what happened to people when they were diagnosed with this disease, to be honest. What went on at Carville – the treatments and experiments and the isolation – is just mind boggling. But because the author herself is a nurse, her background comes into play in that she brings such authenticity to the writing.
I fell in love with the characters in this book, especially Mirielle. They are all so richly drawn and even when I had to put this book down, I found myself thinking of them as if they were real people that I knew. I love books like that. I also loved the character development…Mirielle in particular starts off as a self-absorbed socialite and ends up almost a completely different person. But living through what she did, under the circumstances she was forced to endure, is bound to have some impact.
I cannot think of a more timely book to read right now than this one. A character being forced into quarantine and then experiencing loss all due to an epidemic? This book certainly has a way of putting things in perspective for sure…and I cannot recommend it enough! And to think it’s based on true events!!!
Audio thoughts:
I alternated between the print and audio for this book. I grabbed the audio from the library — yay Hoopla for having it available on Pub day!!! – and I really enjoyed the narration! Nicole Poole did a fabulous job with the voices, giving each character their own distinct voice, and her enunciation and pacing were spot on!
