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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to learn about the treatment of people with possibly contagious disease with no real cure back in the 20’s. I liked how the author brings you into the colony through Mirelle and the friendships and life she makes there. I also thought it was poignant that she had struggles in her other life as well that she dealt with while living her second life though not by her own choice. Mirelle’s experience working with patients at the colony brought me to me as a nurse during the 2020 I could feel for her. I thought this book was really well done in showing the history and human side of communicable disease and stigma that goes with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow - this story was unexpected but an interesting surprise! It's of a Los Angeles socialite who burned herself curling her hair and went in for a check up - only to find herself quarantined and whisked off to Louisiana in a hurried, hushed sort of way. Her family pretended that she was visiting an ill relative, while she was dealing with a Leprosy diagnosis all on her own. She learns quite a bit about herself along the way.
This book opened my eyes to quite a bit of history... I did not realize that we had leprosarium colonies in the USA - Carville (where this book took place) only closed in 1999 (1999!) and was converted into a historical museum. It's really pretty, too - like a college campus with dormitories and a hospital onsite.
This book opened my eyes to quite a bit of history... I did not realize that we had leprosarium colonies in the USA - Carville (where this book took place) only closed in 1999 (1999!) and was converted into a historical museum. It's really pretty, too - like a college campus with dormitories and a hospital onsite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Child death, Grief, Abandonment
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An unexpected thought-provoking book. Would highly recommend it.
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Historical fiction is not my number one genre but this was so good. Had been on my TBR for a while. I loved the unique storyline and character development.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of the better newer historical fiction novels that I have read for a while. Really interesting subject--life in an American leper colony in the late 1920's--and a main character who had more to work through than a leprosy diagnosis.