Madwoman: Nellie Bly

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Thus, she is encouraged to form her own opinions and later to gather information for him as she has a knack for asking the right questions. Although it started a bit slow for me, sifting through Nellie’s (nicknamed Pink) childhood and family struggles, this was a fascinating and propulsive story.

Louisa Treger takes us deep inside the mind of an extraordinary woman, whose ambition to succeed in a male world leads her to the very brink of madness. If you are someone who does not mind being explicitly told what the message is, give this book a go!She grew up in Pennsylvania in 1870s and had a father who was strong and encouraged her to read, follow politics and be educated.

She has problems, confronts the men in power, and comes out the other side with a job and apartment? Nellie was determined to make her mark on history, and her stories of cruelty and abuse at The Blackwell Island asylum are terrifying and heartbreaking. In the process, revealing deplorable conditions, the mistreatment of patients by staff, the mental abuse that could drive sane person into insanity, hunger and cold causing distress. Though all of the information presented was informative, and I love historical fiction, I didn’t discover anything that made this stand out. Sux years later, working in service to help support her family, an editorial in the Pittsburgh Dispatch revives her aspirations, and she convinces the paper to publish a series of articles, adopting the nom de plume, Nellie Bly.Nellie feared that the newspaper would forget to release her, and the grim conditions she experienced were driving her mad.

Treger ably exposes the cruel treatment and the bleak lives led by the inmates, and the challenges facing Nellie. Abusive and vicious staff, scant and poor food, freezing conditions and hideous punishments rapidly take their dehumanising toll - and even worse is threatened. I likedthe writing, the story and I loved the setting, as well as really taking Nellie Bly into my heart. Pinkie is bound and determined to become a newspaper journalist in New York, where she most definitely would make a name for herself is she can just convince them to give her, a female the chance that she can do as well as any man. In 1887 young Nellie Bly sets out for New York and a career in journalism, determined to make her way as a serious reporter, whatever that may take.Once we got into the journalism and the plot to enter the madhouse, I was back on board because of the vivid prose that was reminiscent of actual Victorian novels. Madwoman captures a unique piece of history when Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Cochran, spent 10 days posing as a madwoman to uncover the atrocities in a New York City asylum. A fascinating read' HAZEL GAYNOR'Remarkable' ESSIE FOX'An astonishing tour de force' REBECCA MASCULLIn 1887 young Nellie Bly sets out for New York and a career in journalism, determined to make her way as a serious reporter, whatever that may take.

First, this book takes fifty pages to even get to the start of Nellie's journalism career, and with a brisk 282 pages that's too long for me. One of the summer’s most hotly anticipated novels… The book’s themes of attitudes to mental health, and women having to fight for professional success are strikingly relevant today. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

A fascinating story of a can-do woman, but I could've come to every conclusion the book laid out for me without being told. Madwoman by Louisa Treger weaves a fascinating true story of the world’s first female investigative journalist, Nellie Bly. After encountering difficulties in finding employment she conceives an audacious plan to expose the treatment of women in an asylum on Blackwells Island New York. Desperate to prove her worth to the owners of The Globe, she comes up with a rather dangerous plan : to fake insanity and have herself committed to the asylum on Blackwell’s Island, where she will work undercover to expose the horrid conditions the patients live in. We are told through the perspective of Nellie of the ways that men abuse their social standing to punish women.