Don't Fence Me In. From Curse to Cure: Leprosy in Modern Times

Don't Fence Me In is an account of the recent history of what many people still regard as a mysterious disease. Tony Gould tells the story of the anguished, fettered soul of a leprosy patient longing to be liberated. Fortunately today, after centuries of terrible existence, it stands almost completely free. This has been achieved through the untiring efforts of committed missionaries, social workers, epidemiologists, microbiologists, leprologists, reconstructive surgeons, and above all the patients themselves, who rose up from a “living hell.”

Tony Gould

Bloomsbury

£20,

pp 420

ISBN 0 7475 7510 X

Rating:

Gould's narrative contains vivid accounts of the family life and suffering of people with leprosy, and of how complete ignorance about the disease created morbid fear in people's minds and an extreme degree of leprophobia. These accounts reveal the human tragedy of leprosy. They are heart rending, overwhelming at times, and are aptly summed up as follows: “Leprosy has stood as the most fearful of the human afflictions… Leprosy was not …