Overbooked Book Lists

Leprosy | Hansen's Disease Booklist

Page Modified: June 19, 2009

Fiction

• The Crystal World
  Author: Ballard, J.G.
  Date: 1988
  J. G. Ballard's fourth novel, which established his reputation as a writer of extraordinary talent and imaginative powers, tells the story of a physician specializing in the treatment of leprosy who is invited to a small outpost in the interior of Africa. Finding the roadways blocked, he takes to the river, and embarks on a frightening journey through a strange petrified forest whose area expands daily, affecting not only the physical environment but also its inhabitants. - Publisher Marketing
  Updated 11.14.05
• Moloka'i
  Author: Brennert, Alan
  Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95ISBN: 031230434X Date: 2003
  PW
  Young Rachel Kalama, growing up in Honolulu in the 1890s, is part of a big, loving Hawaiian family but, at the age of seven, Rachel's dreams are shattered by the discovery that she has leprosy.
  Paperback available: 0312304358     $13.95
  Overbooked Author Connection Link: Alan Brennert
  Updated 1.10.06
• Shark Dialogues
  Author: Davenport, Kiana
  Publisher: Scribner $ 22 ISBN: 0689121911 Date: 1994
  Spanning the years from the early 19th century to our own troubled times, Shark Dialogues is the extraordinary and irresistible story of one sprawling and spirited Hawaiian family, whose origins lie in the fateful meeting of a shipwrecked Yankee sailor and a runaway Tahitian princess.
  Updated 11.14.05
• A Burnt-Out Case
  Author: Greene, Graham
  Date: 1961
  When Querry, world-famous architect, no longer enjoys life or takes pleasure in art, he sets off on a voyage to a leper colony in the Congo.
  Updated 11.21.05
• Jerusalem
  Author: Holland, Cecelia Date: 1996
  The extraordinary author of The Bear Flag and Pacific Street returns to print at last with a remarkable novel. Set in the Holy Land in 1187 A.D., Jerusalem is an epic of war and political intrigue, of passion and religious fervor.
  Updated 11.2.05
• The Pearl Diver
  Author: Talarigo, Jeff
  Publisher: Nan Talese $ 18.95 ISBN: 0385510519 Date: 2004
  In 1948, a 19-year-old Japanese pearl diver is in her fourth season of working hard to perfect the techniques of her age-old occupation. But her dreams of spending her life diving in the waters of the Seto Inland Sea are shattered when she discovers that she has leprosy.
  Updated 11.21.05
• The Samurai's Garden
  Author: Tsukiyama, Gail
  Publisher: St Martins $ 18.95 ISBN: 0312118139   Date: 1995
  Booklist
  The author of Women of the Silk has created a small, moving masterpiece. This new novel centers around a young Chinese man visiting Japan and his relationship with four local residents. What then ensues is a tale that readers will find at once classical yet utterly unique.
  Updated 11.14.05

Nonfiction

• The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai
  Author: Tayman, John
  Publisher: Scribner $ 27.50 ISBN: 074323300x Date: 2006
  Booklist
  In the bestselling tradition of In the Heart of the Sea comes the untold history of America's only leper colony--which exists even today--and the extraordinary people forced to create a community under horrific circumstances.
  pdated 11.2.05

For Younger Readers

• The Dark Light
  Author: Newth, Mette
  Publisher: FSG $ 18 ISBN: 0374317011 Date: 2005
  Kirkus
  While enduring a bleak existence in a hospital for lepers in Norway during the early 1800s, thirteen-year-old Tora tries to find meaning in a life surrounded by death.
  Grades: 7-12 Category: Historical Fiction