num_pages: 384
description: In an intoxicating story of resilience repulsion and the Roaring 20s the glamorous world of a silent film stars wife abruptly crumbles when shes forcibly quarantined at Americas only leper colony in Carville LouisianaBased on the little-known true story of Americas only leper colony The Second Life of Mirielle West by RUSA Award-winning author Amanda Skenandore 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.* A 2023 Silicon Valley Reads Selection ** Reader's Digest Editor's Choice *Based on the true story of Americas 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 1920s 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 Hollywoods Golden Age. When a doctor notices a pale patch of skin on her hand shes 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 Skenandores 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 Americas past made all the more poignant by the authors experiences during another all-too-recent crisis.
language: English
title: The Second Life of Mirielle West
publisher: Kensington