The Second Life of Mirielle West

The glamorous world of a silent film starΓÇÖs wife abruptly crumbles when sheΓÇÖs forcibly quarantined at the Carville Lepers Home in this page-turning story of courage,resilienceand reinvention set in 1920s Louisiana and Los Angeles. Based on little-known historythis timely book will strike a chord with readers of Fiona DavisTracey Langeand Marie Benedict. * A 2023 Silicon Valley Reads Selection * * Reader’s Digest Editor’s Choice * For Mirielle Westa 1920ΓÇÖs socialite married to a silent film starthe 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 HollywoodΓÇÖs Golden Age. When a doctor notices a pale patch of skin on her handsheΓÇÖs immediately branded a leper and carted hundreds of miles from home to Carvilletaking a new name to spare her family and famous husband the shame that accompanies the disease. At first she hopes her exile will be briefbut those sent to Carville are more prisoners than patients and their disease has no cure. Instead she must find community and purpose within its wallsstruggling to redefine her self-worth while fighting an unchosen fate. As a registered nurseAmanda SkenandoreΓÇÖs medical background adds layers of detail and authenticity to the experiences of patients and medical professionals at Carville ΓÇô the isolationstigmaexperimental treatmentsand disparate community. A tale of repulsionresilienceand the Roaring ΓÇÿ20sThe Second Life of Mirielle West is also the story of a health crisis in AmericaΓÇÖs pastmade all the more poignant by the authorΓÇÖs experiences during anotherall-too-recent crisis. ΓÇ£Scrupulous in her research and practically clairvoyant in her choice of urgent subjects ΓÇö from the Indigenous boarding schools of her first novel to the disease and quarantine of The Second Life of Mirielle West ΓÇö historical novelist Amanda Skenandore has quietly become one of the valleyΓÇÖs finest authors.ΓÇ¥ ΓÇô The Las Vegas Review Journal