Carville's Cure

Read if you: Want a moving and fascinating medical history read. 

I grew up in Louisiana and vaguely heard about the Carville residential hospital, but never knew the full history until now. It was shocking to read how people with Hansen's Disease have been feared, ostracized, and stripped of their rights. Most of Carville's residents did not want to be there (and escaped or tried to escape), but they also formed an extraordinary society. They created a newspaper, advocated for their rights, celebrated Mardi Gras, and courted each other. Fessler also draws apt comparisons between the way people with Hansen's DIsease were treated (and are treated--she recounts several instances of modern day discrimination and ignorance toward Hansen's Disease in the US and other places) and the way people with AIDS were treated at the height of the AIDS pandemic.  The author's grandfather-in-law was a Carville resident, and recounts her husband's journey to find out more about his grandfather (the last paragraphs of the book made me cry at 6:00 AM this morning, when I was finishing the book before heading to work.). Definitely one of the best books I've read this year. 

Librarians/booksellers: Even readers who don't normally read medical history will be drawn to it. 

Many thanks to W.W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love this book. It seems a bit odd to read about a disease during a pandemic but I found the book in-depth and it pulled me into the story of the Carville facility and it’s long history in America.