
Overbooked specializes in providing timely information about fiction (all genres) and readable nonfiction. Overbooked has been online since 1994. Overbooked is a work in progress . . .
Overbooked is the winner of the 2008 Louis Shores - Greenwood Publishing Award: to recognize excellence in book reviewing and other media for libraries. The award recipient is selected for significant achievement related to a reviewing process that helps librarians make selection decisions.

Booklists and Suggested Reading
Leprosy | Hansen's Disease Booklist
Page Modified:
August 19, 2008
Annotations are from Advance, the
Ingram
Book Magazine, unless noted.
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
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