by Neil White
First published 2009
Neil White had everything the American Dream promised: a thriving business, a mansion, luxury cars, and a beautiful family. The only problem was that he couldn't afford any of it. His check kiting scheme catches up with him when the FBI comes knocking, and White finds himself sentenced to eighteen months behind bars. His assignment to Carville, Louisiana, feels like the final insult. The facility serves as both prison and home to the last residents of what was once America's leper colony. White arrives convinced this is just a temporary setback on his path to wealth and status. Then he meets Ella, an eighty-year-old double amputee who was taken from her family as a child and has spent her entire life at Carville. Through Ella and the other leprosy patients, White discovers a dignity and wisdom that money cannot purchase. As he begins fighting to end the stigma surrounding leprosy, White learns what true wealth looks like.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, crime, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, redemption
Setting: Carville, Louisiana
Period: 20th-century
335 pages · Kindle Edition · HarperCollins e-books