Anne Harmon Brett is the child of two loving parents who just happened to be leprosy patients. She never heard the words, leper or leprosy, in her home growing up. It was always referred to as The Disease.
Seventeen years ago, Anne's father, Johnny P. Harmon, wrote a memoir about his life at the National Leprosarium in Carville, La. from 1935 to 1955. His memoir, King of the Microbes, was written in the stream of consciousness style and was difficult to read. Anne knew that it was a good story that just needed heavy editing.
Anne is a graduate of LSU's School of Journalism and has utilized her writing skills to take this memoir into a more readable format. This book, THE DISEASE, One Man's Journey Through a Life with Leprosy, is not only a history of the Carville Leprosarium but it is also a love story between two patients that fell in love and married in the most adverse conditions.
Anne and her husband, Dan, live in Vacherie, Louisiana, a small Cajun community along the banks of the Mississippi River. They have one son, David, who lives in New York City.