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The Second Life of Mirielle West

A Haunting Historical Novel Perfect for Book Clubs
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Set in the 1920s, The Second Life of Mirielle West follows the fall from grace of a glamorous socialite when she is forcibly quarantined at the Carville Lepers Home in Louisiana. Branded a leper and stripped of her identity, Mirielle must navigate the harsh realities of isolation and stigma far from her dazzling Hollywood life. Drawing on the author Amanda Skenandore’s medical expertise, this historical fiction vividly portrays courage, resilience, and reinvention amid a forgotten health crisis in America’s past.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$5000

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This compelling narrative will resonate with readers interested in historical fiction that explores social issues and personal transformation. Fans of authors such as Fiona Davis, Tracey Lange, and Marie Benedict will appreciate its richly researched setting and emotional depth.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The glamorous world of a silent film star's wife abruptly crumbles when she is forcibly quarantined at the Carville Lepers Home in this page-turning story of courage, resilience, and reinvention set in 1920s Louisiana and Los Angeles. Based on little-known history, this timely book will strike a chord with readers of Fiona Davis, Tracey Lange, and Marie Benedict.

A 2023 Silicon Valley Reads Selection
Reader's Digest Editor's Choice

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 Hollywood's Golden Age. When a doctor notices a pale patch of skin on her hand, she is 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 Skenandore's 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 America's past, made all the more poignant by the author's experiences during another, all-too-recent crisis.

"Scrupulous in her research and practically clairvoyant in her choice of urgent subjects - from the Indigenous boarding schools of her first novel to the disease and quarantine of The Second Life of Mirielle West - historical novelist Amanda Skenandore has quietly become one of the valley's finest authors." - The Las Vegas Review Journal

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781496726513

Publisher: Kensington Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 27 July 2021

Country: United States

Imprint: Kensington Publishing

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 139.0mm

Height: 210.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 304

About the Author

Amanda Skenandore is a historical fiction writer and registered nurse. Her debut novel, Between Earth and Sky, was the winner of the American Library Association's RUSA Reading List for Best Historical Fiction Novel of the Year. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Visit Amanda Skenandore online at AmandaSkenandore.com.

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