THE SECOND LIFE OF MIRIELLE WEST by Amanda Skenandore will be published July 27th 2021 by Kensington Publishing Corporation.
Socialite Mirielle West is living the high life in 1920's Los Angeles. She is married to a movie star, and they have two little girls. She spends her days attending parties and shopping. Life would be idyllic if her son had not died tragically a couple of years earlier. Mirielle is battling depression and a serious drinking problem when she is diagnosed with leprosy. At the time, there was a social stigma attached to anyone with leprosy. People with the disease are whisked away to colonies where they languish while waiting for either a cure or death. Refusing to believe that she even has the disease, Mirielle is in for a huge shock. She is transported to rural Louisiana in a boxcar and then locked away in Carville. The hospital seems more like a prison, and Mirielle makes little effort to bond with her fellow patients. In fact, she is so rude to the other patients and the staff than many of them take an instant dislike to her. Once she accepts that she is stuck at Carville for the long haul, Mirielle begins working in the infirmary and the pharmacy—though the only reason she does this is because she had herself convinced that she can singlehandedly find the cure for leprosy. Mirielle is in for many rude awakenings at Carville, and it takes her a long time before she finally bonds with the other patients and creates a new life for herself.
While Mirielle West is a fictional character, the Carville Leprosarium is a real place. Amanda Skenandore brings the leprosy colony/hospital to life, and depicts the patients and staff with empathy—it was not easy to have leprosy or treat the sufferers. Mirielle is not always the most likable or sympathetic character. If it wasn't for the disease and the tragic loss of her son, there would be very little that is sympathetic about he. She is stuck on herself and doesn't care about anyone but herself. It takes her a long time to bond with the other patients and begin doing anything positive in regard to making anyone's staff at Carville any more pleasant. Even when she does do something helpful or nice, she really only does it for her own benefit. Her callousness and narcissism can be off-putting not only to the other patients but to the reader as well. The longer she is stuck at Carville and the more she bonds with some of the other patients, the more Mirielle grows as a person. Overall, THE SECOND LIFE OF MIRIELLE WEST is an interesting and thought provoking novel.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.