Coast, The

Limprecht, Eleanor

  1 Reviews

With its picturesque beaches and cliffs, Little Bay in Sydney should have been idyllic, but not so for the patients admitted to its Coast Hospital who do not have the option to leave. When Alice is nine she arrives at the enclave to be reunited with her mother and to begin her life in perpetual quarantine, courtesy of the Leprosy Act of 1890.

This is the story of the leper colony, focusing on Alice and her mother Clea, Guy, a returned WWI soldier, one of the stolen generation, and Will, a doctor assigned to the lazaret. Comprehensively researched and told with compassion, this is a compelling story of love and endurance amidst the stigma and discrimination of early 20th century Australia.

Comments from BDS Reviewers

"Great storytelling. I enjoyed it very much."

"Compelling reading even though it was extremely sad to read how leprosy patients were treated."

"The reader battles for Alice. She was only nine years old when she was sent to the lazaret."

"It's part of Australian history I knew nothing about, so I found it extremely interesting."

"The book is written with tenderness and has a compassionate tone."

"Well-written and very well researched. It was interesting to learn how leprosy arrived in Australia."

"This is a great story for history buffs. Segregation was stopped because people tried to conceal the disease to avoid separation from home and family."

"The author's research was most impressive."

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