Madwoman: Nellie Bly

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Madwoman by Louisa Treger weaves a fascinating true story of the world’s first female investigative journalist, Nellie Bly. She learned that not all women in this place were mentally ill but were imprisoned there because their husbands or male relatives wanted to be rid of them or they had broken some restrictions of society. My only dislike was the romantic part of the novel which I found hard to believe, but it was not that important to the overall story and its message. I thought the chapters detailing her early life could have been condensed, and her memories of early happier times that sustained her while in confinement were an unnecessary recap.

The articles are popular but attract controversy from advertisers, and when she is relegated to writing about the arts, Nellie decides to move to New York. Would Nellie have bathed and washed her hair the night before she began her quest to be declared a lunatic?Down to her last dime and desperate to prove her worth, she comes up with a dangerous plan: to fake insanity and have herself committed to the asylum on Blackwell's Island. Imagine pretending to be insane and so you get committed to such a place, only then have to act ‘ mad’ so you can go undercover in plain sight and reveal the truth about this place and others like it? 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.

This fictional account of her exposé of Blackwell's asylum in 1880s New York stays faithful to the biographical detail, harrowing and emotive without ever getting too sensationalist. I likedthe writing, the story and I loved the setting, as well as really taking Nellie Bly into my heart. Louisa Treger’s impressive Madwoman describes the extraordinary bravery of 19th-century journalist Nellie Bly, who wrote a blistering exposé of the insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island, “a human rat trap” in which she intentionally got herself incarcerated.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. Women who were sane on entering were in danger of lapsing into insanity due to their hopeless future. Louisa subsequently turned to literature, gaining a First Class degree and a PhD in English at University College London, where she focused on early twentieth century women’s writing. She studied at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music, and worked as a freelance orchestral player and teacher.

The New York newspapers are uninterested in Nellie’s previous success, women journalists are not welcome on Park Row.After her father's sudden death, her mother married a brutal and abusive man, and they were plunged into poverty and despair. Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury UK for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review. If the shocking world of the asylum will stay with me for a long time, so will the inspiration of Nellie's self-sacrifice and her determination to tell her story.

In writing of her experience, Nellie paved the way for women in journalism and brought to light the horrible treatment of the women at the asylum. I must confess I’d never heard of Nellie Bly but I’m glad I picked up ‘Madwoman‘ and got to know her. Nelly you are a true hero and what she did, how she did it and why was just remarkable to read about.She is determined to succeed, and she clearly sees it doing with articles that are personal and emotional, giving intimate glimpses into working class female workers. I fairly leapt at the chance to read Louise Treger’s fictionalised narrative of Elizabeth Cochran who wrote under the pseudonym of Nellie Bly, having always been fascinated by her remarkable story. I’ve always been interested in the life of Nellie Bly, so I was really looking forward to reading this fictionalised (but very close to what actually happened) account of her 10-day incarceration in a lunatic asylum. Everyone should know what Nellie Bly did for the women in Blackwell’s Asylum and should all take a leaf from her book when it comes to believing in yourself and standing up for what is right! This was such a captivating read, made even more so by the fact that it was based upon a true woman and her story.