Book Review Time!

When I had Squishy I had been reading the complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and although I loved the books, it too me forever to read them and I only finished about two weeks ago.  Needless to say, I was so very ready for something new and my hubby picked In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White. 

**Yes my husband picks my books.  We have so very many that I can never choose so he picks for me and I pick for him.  We like to alternate fiction with nonfiction so we learn something too.**

I devoured it.  There is no other word for it.  I finished it in less than 48 hours and keep in mind I have a 4 month old so that's no small feat. 


It's about a man who is sent to a minimum security prison for bank fraud, specifically check kiting.  It's no ordinary prison though, it's a leper colony that had dropped in number of patients so they kept half of the colony for the patients and they turned half into a prison.  It's a completely true story too and his time there was in the early 1990's.

I realized while reading it that I was very uneducated on the illness of leprosy.  I thought it was a life long condition but for some it can go away.  I thought people still didn't but hundred of people are still diagnosed with it each year.  I didn't know that the term leper is insensitive.  I also didn't know that armadillos are prone to leprosy and that humans may get it from them.

The prisoners themselves were interesting too.  One was a lawyer for Jimmy Hoffa and another for a mob boss. 

It was utterly fantastic and I highly recommend it!