The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore

This is one of those books that proves that the best fiction is pulled from real life. Mirielle West sees a doctor for a burn and never gets to say goodbye to her husband, children and the glamorous life she had in Hollywood. Instead, she is dumped in a cattle car along with other unfortunates and whisked away to a leper colony in Louisiana. In the 1920's Hansen's disease or Leprosy as it was more commonly known, was feared so that sufferers were treated like criminals, shunned and hidden away in facilities that resembled prisons more than hospitals. When Mirielle arrives at Carville a spoiled woman who loved her family but relinquished the children to nannies and running the household to the help, she is little prepared for her new life. She will find new family, mother a young girl who has been cast aside in a world of adults, love and lifelong friendship. Even though she may have been given a death sentence, she will not stop fighting and may find her true calling. Well researched this is the perfect historical fiction companion to the history of Carville, CARVILLE'S CURE by Pam Fessler.  4 1/2 stars