In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir

White, Neil. In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir.
New York: William Morrow, 2009.
336 pp. $25.99 (hardcover)

Neil White’s first book is his account of the year he spent in the federal penitentiary at Carville, Louisiana. Convicted of bank fraud in 1993, White arrived at Carville unaware that the facility was also the home of about 130 leprosy patients. Proud of his success in publishing and journalism in Oxford and the Gulf Coast, and not entirely convinced that kiting checks was so wrong, White was both embarrassed that he had let down his family and employees and also determined to make the best of his sentence. He decided to continue being a journalist and began to interview his fellow prisoners and the patients he gradually got to know.

During the year at Carville, White confronted some vanities behind his drive for success, including his desire to be the head of a publishing empire. From some of the leprosy patients, he learned to live with simplicity and humility, to care less for the opinions of others, to welcome people in. A key lesson for White was to understand he could not remake himself. Instead, he could accept himself for the person he was, and he could make choices to put his strengths to work to accomplish new purposes.

The title is intriguing. It is easy to think of outcasts as representing leprosy patients as well as inmates. Sanctuary is more enigmatic, but was aptly chosen. A sanctuary is often a place of refuge or protection. In a sense, Carville is that to the patients (who now live there by choice). But sanctuary also connotes holiness or a sense of the sacred. I think this is what White experienced at Carville, especially in his friendships with two leprosy patients, Ella and Harry, as they welcomed him into their lives.

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir would be a good addition to any general collection. Adult readers who like to read accounts of conduct of life will be interested, as well as those who want to know more about the challenges faced by leprosy patients.

Linda Ginn
Catalog Librarian
University of Southern Mississippi

Entry Filed under: Book Reviews
Posted on: September 29th, 2009