2024 the best clubs in los angeles review

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The glamorous world of a silent film star’s wife abruptly crumbles when she’s 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 1920’s 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’s 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

From the Publisher

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kensington (July 27, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1496726510
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1496726513
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.98 x 8.25 inches
Reviewer: Christina
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A beautiful story
Review: This story has so much life, happiness, sadness, regret, love and most of all forgiveness. It was fascinating to read about how the writer put everything together that made it feel so real and how much I felt as a reader for 'Polly'. I think it was toward the middle of the book when I just couldn't stop reading. I needed to know what happened and then my feelings were felt during the loss of Irene and after. This really was a great read

Reviewer: Charlotte
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: very slow burn but wonderful ending
Review: This was a delightful book!I really enjoyed the growth of Mirielle and how she adapted to her second life.It did take a while for me to immerse myself fully but by the end I was sobbing.What a lovely story

Reviewer: Sher-AL
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Couldn't put this book down!
Review: Absolutely one of the best books I've read in year! I couldn't stop reading this book. It was amazing how all these characters came to life. Thank goodness medicine advanced for those with leprosy or Hanson's disease.

Reviewer: Linda Weber
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Sensitive portrayal of a difficult subject. Beautifully written.
Review: Book ReviewThe Second Life of Mirielle WestBy Amanda SkenandoreThe Second Life of Mirielle West was not a book to take in big gulps, but rather savored in sips like a fine vintage wine. Each issue raised required thought-time. Each challenge required the reader to ponder the circumstance and outcome. I could not hurry through the book. I needed space between the chapters to think deeply on what had happened. Each time I put it down I savored the opportunity to consider the previous scene or conflict. Bits and pieces of Mirielle’s story were hinted at though out but not fully revealed. I couldn’t let it rest for long before I was pulled back to find out what happened. By the mid-way point, I was so deeply engaged that I had to force myself to set the book aside and think about the issues it raised instead of rushing ahead to finish something I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to end.The book was difficult for me to engage with in the first forty pages because the protagonist was such an unlikeable person. But by the time I had reached the point where I thought I might not like the book something magical happened. The author has done a masterful job of showing how this character could and would grow and change over the course of her life. Sometimes I wanted to grab her and shake her, and other times I tried to put myself in her shoes and felt genuine sympathy.This story was a rollercoaster ride of up and down emotions; heightened expectations and dashed hopes; sympathy and frustration; anger and forgiveness; love and loss. Ms. Skenandore knows how to pull on the heartstrings.I lost myself in the beautiful writing, the vivid descriptions of scene, situation, and circumstance. I lost myself in the smells and flora, the visual contrast of the human conditions of the patients at Carville, and the beauty around them. I grew to truly care about each character who took a role in the telling of this story. Some exhibited behaviors I found irritating, others endearing. Each character, however insignificant their role, meant something and gave fullness to the story and the protagonist’s experience. I wept with Mirielle on many occasions and rejoiced with her in on others. I cried long and hard in the end.Skenandore has done it again. She has created a valuable story and historic look at a difficult subject with the precision of a surgeon. Her research is so thorough, and her descriptions of Carville so detailed I felt as if I had been there walking the walks, going in and out of the buildings, and living the experiences of the patients and staff as they journeyed through this unmentionable disease. I am a fan of this author and this, her third book, is as riveting and thought-provoking as either Between Earth and Sky or The Undertaker’s Assistant. I wait with eager anticipation to see what issue she will unearth for examination next.

Reviewer: SH
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Interesting
Review: I enjoyed learning more about leprosy and its impact in America. The story is good, but a little slow through the middle. I did like some of the characters- Frank and Irene definitely.

Reviewer: Joy Cloud
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Interesting read
Review: I have no idea why I chose this book but certainly am glad I did. I love historical fiction and this was a great book to read.

Reviewer: swet5land
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Sad Truths
Review: A good historical fiction. Character development and small details not fully realized. Hard to empathize with the main character as much as I wanted to, but many of the secondary characters were more dynamic.

Reviewer: Martha Cesarz
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Illuminating
Review: This novel explores such a misunderstood disease and the cruel treatment of those afflicted with Leprosy. While reading this very emotional novel, I found myself educating myself on the topic, because I too believed all the myths of this disease. This novel was written with absolute clarity and compassion.

Reviewer: Helen Riecken
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Interesting read with historical details, romance, sad truth about a little known disease that robs people of their social contacts with family and friends. Just how would one feel if this happened to you! Loved it so much I bought it for a friends birthday.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I liked the pace of the book, mostly was the transition from wealth and acceptance to being an outsider in a different world. Her character was so sad and spoiled but the humane kindness was always there.

Reviewer: bookaddict
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A bit brutal if you did not already have some historical knowledge of this subject, but overall, it kept my interest to the end and was an enjoyable read, if sad in places.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: It is interesting to get an insight into life for someone with this disease in the 1920's. The story follows Mirielle as she is diagnosed and sent to a specialist hospital. Although her story is sad, the emotion didn't come through in the writing. Unfortunately it is sometimes hard to sympathise with her as she is a self-centred character. However, I enjoyed reading the book and meeting the other characters.

Reviewer: Cynthia Peterson
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: As a retired doctor who never saw a case of Leprosy in my lifetime, I double checked all of the facts presented in this book regarding the Leper Colonies, research on the disease, the way people with this disease were stigmatized and treated. This book brought it all to life.