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IN THE SANCTUARY OF OUTCASTS
By: Neil White
A Memoir
William Morrow
June 2009
On Sale: June 2, 2009
336 pages
ISBN: 0061351601
EAN: 9780061351600
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
Daddy is going to camp. Thatβs what I told my children. A child psychologist suggested it. βWords like prison and jail conjure up dangerous images for children,β she explained. But it wasnβt camp . . . Neil White, a journalist and magazine publisher, wanted the best for those he lovedβnice cars, beautiful homes, luxurious clothes. He loaned money to family and friends, gave generously to his church, and invested in his communityβbut his bank account couldnβt keep up. Soon White began moving money from one account to another to avoid bouncing checks. His world fell apart when the FBI discovered his scheme and a judge sentenced him to serve eighteen months in a federal prison. But it was no ordinary prison. The beautiful, isolated colony in Carville, Louisiana, was also home to the last people in the continental United States disfigured by leprosy. Hidden away for decades, this small circle of outcasts had forged a tenacious, clandestine community, a fortress to repel the cruelty of the outside world. It is here, in a place rich with history, where the Mississippi River briefly runs north, amid an unlikely mix of leprosy patients, nuns, and criminals, that Whiteβs strange and compelling journey begins. He finds a new best friend in Ella Bounds, an eighty-year-old African American double amputee who had contracted leprosy as a child. She and the other secret people, along with a wacky troop of inmates, help White rediscover the value of simplicity, friendship, and gratitude. Funny and poignant, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts is an uplifting memoir that reminds us all what matters most.
 Media BuzzDiane Rehm Show - NPR - June 3, 2009
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