My friend Jools tells me this is the same narrator of The Paperbark Shoe which I read and loved, so I think I will listen to this one soon. The audio format was perfect, with narration by Taylor Owynns outstanding. The Matron, doctors and nurses felt real to me, some gracious and kind, and others who didn’t care about their charges. Separated into male and female lazarettes for leprosy sufferers to live the rest of their days in strict segregation. 1910, Little Bay, Sydney Australia is the real-life hospital, The Coast. The subject matter thoroughly researched, I felt I was living amongst the bias and hypocrisy of the times.

'Few books have touched me so deeply' - Suzanne Leal, author of The DeceptionsĪgain, I am so pleased I selected a historical fiction, but I fear I need to apologise for another long review! This was a brilliant book evocative and seamlessly flowing.

'Riveting and heart-wrenching' - Mirandi Riwoe, author of The Burnished Sun 'A compelling story of loss and liberty and the capacity of the human mind to transcend boundaries' - Meg Keneally, author of Fled Heartbreaking and soul-lifting, it is a universal story of love, courage, sacrifice and resilience. It is only when Guy, a Yuwaalaraay man wounded in World War I, arrives at The Coast, that Alice begins to experience what she has yearned for, as they become friends and then something deeper.įilled with vivid descriptions of the wild beauty of the sea cliffs and beaches surrounding the harsh isolation of the lazaret, and written in evocative prose, The Coast is meticulously researched historical fiction that holds a mirror to the present day. The patients have access to a private sandstone-edged beach, their own rowboat, a piano and a library of books, but Alice is tired of the smallness of her life and is thrilled by the thought of the outside world.

Once there, Alice learns her mother is suffering from leprosy and that she has the same disease.Īs she grows up, the secluded refuge of the lazaret becomes Alice's entire world, her mother and the other patients and medical staff her only human contact. She is told that she's visiting her mother, who disappeared one day when Alice was two. Alice is only nine years old in 1910 when she is sent to the feared Coast Hospital lazaret at Little Bay in Sydney, a veritable prison where more patients are admitted than will ever leave.

The Coast by Joseph J. Thorndike Jr.