Lay Morals, and Other Papers

A vivid memoir unfolds as a couple sails through the South Pacific, their yacht Casco drifting from island to island where leprosy casts a quiet, unsettling shadow. In the Marquesas they encounter locals whose daily lives are intertwined with the disease, sharing cigarettes and simple gestures that reveal both humanity and the era’s uneasy attitudes toward contagion. Their journey leads them to a remote village where a young girl’s mysterious illness forces a stark confrontation with the limits of medical knowledge and the moral dilemmas of aid.

Interwoven with these travel sketches are thoughtful reflections on the work of Father Damien and the broader questions of compassion, duty, and personal sacrifice. The narrator’s candid conversations with her husband expose a restless desire to witness suffering up close, even at personal risk. The early chapters set a tone of curiosity tempered by ethical wonder, inviting listeners to explore how travel, disease, and conscience intersect in a world far from home.