What a fascinating story about Nellie Bly and her undercover work at Blackwell Island Asylum.

It was very interesting to follow Nellie and her journey to getting the byline. It was heartbreaking to see the treatment of women who were considered “insane”. Mostly it was because men didn’t understand women or couldn’t handle them not sticking to the status quo.

I didn’t love how the chapters featuring the other reporters were interwoven with Nellie’s, but it made sense in the end. And to an extent, I felt like the time Nellie spent getting to Blackwell and her time there could have been edited down a bit.

Overall, enjoyable and super interesting. (3.5/5)

Nellie Bly is the intrepid reporter, advocate for women, willing to risk all in order to expose abuse. Fictionalized account of a true story that exposes the abuse suffered by women and the lack of rights in the late 19th century in the U.S..
Interesting, well written account that meanders along. It refuses to be a fast read yet is worth the effort.


3.5 stars

THE MAD GIRLS OF NEW YORK
A Nellie Bly Novel
by Maya Rodale
Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley
Pub Date: April 26

There seems to be a resurgence of interest in journalist Nellie Bly, reflected in the growing number of historical fiction novels about her.

Mary Rodale has written a fabulous book about the famed reporter, courageous enough to enter Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum for Women as an "inmate" just to write about its abuses for New York World. She was lucky to survive and get out in time to beat other reporters hot on the story.

Survive she did, and The Mad Girls of New York captures her experience, drive and fearlessness as she exposes the truth, securing her reputation as an investigative journalist par excellence -- and female to boot!

I become engrossed immediately and read through to the end because of the author's gripping narrative and rich character portrayals.

Highly recommended for lovers of historical fiction, brave women journalists, and New York's Guilded Age. A gem!

Thanks to the author, Berkley Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are mine.

#TheMadGirlsofNewYork #MayaRodale #BerkleyPublishingGroup #NetGalley
#NellieBlyhistoricalnovel #GildedAgeNY
#glassceilingbreakingfemalereporter #journalismhistory
#BlackwellsIslandInsaneAsylumforWomen
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I absolutely adored this book!! I’ve studied Nellie Bly in the past and am fascinated by her story, so I was excited for this read and boy was I impressed!! Bly’s investigation of Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum for Women was very dark and disturbing and this certainly came through in the book but I like that this story had many lighter moments and humor thrown in. Nellie is a great character and you can see why she’s still talked about and relevant today.

It's 1887, and Nellie Bly has come to New York City in hopes of becoming a journalist who covers more than just the ladies' pages. Unfortunately for Nellie, every editor on Newspaper Row believes women aren't cut out for hard news. But Nellie has never been one to back down. In desperation, Nellie convinces one paper to take a chance on her by pitching an assignment no sane person would ever undertake: to pose as a patient at Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum for Women. Rumors have been swirling for months surrounding the inhumane treatment at Blackwell's, but no reporter has been able to step foot inside its walls. Nellie knows she only has one shot to pull this off, so she feigns insanity and gets committed, hoping to survive inside the asylum for ten days. Nothing could've prepared Nellie for the horrific conditions she encounters. Nellie knows this could make or break her career, but when rival journalists try to scoop the story out from under her, she finds herself in a race against time and madness to make headlines first.

I went to school for journalism and had heard of Bly in classes, so I was immediately intrigued by this. I loved the idea of a fictionalized version of her life and her career and thought Rodale did a solid job with it. It felt like a nice homage to such a pioneering woman. I did wish some of the other characters felt as fleshed out as Nellie, but I still enjoyed them, especially the group of other women journalists Nellie befriends. I thought the plot itself was interesting but did drag in some places. Despite that, I was still hooked the entire time. This is a darker story, but Rodale balances it nicely with hopeful moments, and I'm interested to see where this series goes from here.

An interesting read. My main critique I have is the marketing. Although illustrated covers can be used for all sorts of genres and age groups, I really think this novel would have been served by a more traditional historical fiction or literary fiction cover. That would match the tone much more.

This one is dark and intense. There are plenty of hopeful moments, but the content is dismal, as is fitting the story. that tries to bring light to systems of oppression in this time period. A content warning would have been very appreciated.

The prose was mediocre. The writing would describe appalling conditions and situations and then tell the reader how terrible they were. I wish the author trusted the audience to recognize how bad the madhouse was on their own instead of being told.

The romance is quite secondary; I can see this being a long, slow burn over the series. Overall I enjoyed it, although I have no idea whether the mental illness representation could be considered accurate or effective.

"An exciting novel based on the fearless reporter Nellie Bly, who would stop at nothing to expose injustices against women in early 19th century New York, even at the risk of her own life and freedom.

In 1887 New York City, Nellie Bly has ambitions beyond writing for the ladies pages, but all the editors on Newspaper Row think women are too emotional, respectable and delicate to do the job. But then the New York World challenges her to an assignment she'd be mad to accept and mad to refuse: go undercover as a patient at Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum for Women.

For months, rumors have been swirling about deplorable conditions at Blackwell’s, but no reporter can get in - that is, until Nellie feigns insanity, gets committed and attempts to survive ten days in the madhouse. Inside, she discovers horrors beyond comprehension. It's an investigation that could make her career - if she can get out to tell it before two rival reporters scoop her story.

From USA Today bestselling author Maya Rodale comes a rollicking historical adventure series about the outrageous intrigues and bold flirtations of the most famous female reporter - and a groundbreaking rebel - of New York City’s Gilded Age."

As I have been saying, Nellie Bly is the It Girl of the moment!

I was a bit worried about this one, to be honest. I majored in communications and studied Nellie Bly and her writings quite a bit way back when. I was worried that this would end being a bit too much like the Lifetime movie catastrophe "Escaping the Madhouse" ... and not enough like anything that actually happened.

Sure, this is fiction and liberties have definitely been taken when it comes to what we know and what we don't about Bly and the time surrounding the Blackwell's investigation. Characters have been added. Details imagined. When it comes right down to it, though, they were all added and imagined with what appears to be great care and I'm okay with all of it.

Hell, if I can be okay with Jane Austen time travelling or becoming a vampire, I can be okay with just about any historical tweak ... as long as it's written well. Maya Rodale has definitely written Nellie well and I look forward to reading more. There's a little matter of a 72-day trip around the world that isn't talked about nearly enough ... as well as her novel-writing that is talked about even less.

Are you interested in Gilded Age New York, investigative journalism, or historical fiction "based on a true story"? We are, and this book was perfect for us. Nellie Bly is the mother of investigative journalism who burst onto the scene in 1880s New York when she published an expose of Blackwell Island Insane Asylum. How did she gain access? She got herself committed - and it wasn't all that difficult, either. The Mad Girls of New York is a fictional account of Bly's time in the Insane Asylum, including her fight to be able to write for one of the big New York papers. The book also weaves in some more fantastical elements, including a mystery involving one of the ladies on the Island and Bly's fellow woman journalists who are also looking for scoops.

As historical romance readers, we were already familiar with Maya Rodale's work. Although The Mad Girls of New York is not a romance, we recognized some Rodale's signature style: sly references to contemporary pop culture and a focus on the forgotten feminists of Gilded Age New York among them. There are also some tantalizing hints of what might turn into some romantic tension in later books in the series. Make sure you check out the author's note, as well, which does a great job of unraveling fact from fiction as presented in the book.

I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me a chance at reading this book.

This is a very confusing book. Mainly because I don't think it can decide between being a fictional novel and a nonfiction. I have seen books toe the line between both, but this one is a very disjointed tale of an actual incident in history.

The characters were very one dimensional and the narrative was that of a nonfiction history book but told in a novelized way. It's hard to explain, and therefore this book is hard to rate.

I've never read anything written by the author until this book but based on how far I got in this book (50%) and how much I tried to enjoy it, I don't think I'll be picking up another book by her.

For readers new to this era of historical fiction (1880s) The Mad Girls of New York is a good introduction. Author Maya Rodale shows the challenges faced by women who wanted to work in the newspaper world, the social challenges of marginalized groups, and the plight of women who just wanted to survive their circumstances in New York City.

Nellie, our heroine, was daring, plucky and smart. She had to fight the perception that women were not good reporters. Her willingness to put her life on the line for her job and infiltrate an insane asylum was astonishing. She was easy to cheer on and I look forward to seeing what the next book in the Nellie Bly series will bring.

This tale of Nellie Bly breaking into New York Journalism starts off as energetic as the woman herself. In fact, in the beginning, she reminded me of a twenty something year old Nancy Drew based in the 1880s. Intrepid and plucky, if you will.
After years in Pittsburgh and Mexico, Nellie has come to New York. But the only way to land a job is to propose a stunt so outrageous it might cost her her life. She is willing to get herself committed to Blackwell’s Island, the notorious insane asylum for women. Rodale employs a rival reporter, a man, who tries to expose Nelly’s scam.
For such an interesting topic, I found the book dragged at times. Rodale does a decent job of giving us a real sense of place once Nellie gets to Balckwell’s. She uses Nellie’s thoughts to explore the ways women were kept subdued, both in and outside the asylum. Uppity women are not to be tolerated, they are to be controlled. And, of course, there’s the Catch 22 of “insisting on sanity was the first sign of insanity.” But what should have been an intense story lacked a sense of suspense.
The character of Nelly is nicely fleshed out, while other characters feel a bit two dimensional, probably as she was real and they were mostly fictional. These characters are for the most part based on real people, although drawn from other times and circumstances.
There’s a side story about a society marriage between Jay Wallace and Louisa Newbold being covered by another female reporter. This subplot is finally woven in at the end.
My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

I did find it infuriating that the title speaks of “girls” while the topic is actually about WOMEN.

Oh my goodness what a great book! I knew a tiny bit about Nelly Bly before reading this book by Maya Rodale, but not much. I was astounded at the story of what she went through in order to write her now-famous story of staying ten days in an insane asylum. This story is gut-wrenching, learning what those poor women went through. Nelly Bly was a true hero, and extremely brave, to insert herself into such a horrible situation in order to tell those stories. A wonderful historical fiction novel, my only complaint was that it could have been longer!

Maya Rodale takes on the real-life tale of adventuresome journalist Nellie Bly in The Mad Girls of New York, which brings mystery to Bly’s time at a horrific mental institution. Blending fact with fiction and a typical dash of her usual strong-women-in-triumph panache, Rodale feels as home in the world of mysteries and historical fiction as she does in romance.

Nellie Bly is penniless after being robbed when she arrives in New York, and is unable to return to her Pittsburgh home, where she’s established a journalism career in spite of attitudes toward women reporters of the time (and, sadly, almost any time afterward).  Tired of being confined to the cultural reporting beat, she vows to dig into some hard news by any means necessary. Using her keen reporting skills, she overhears a network of female reporters chatting and makes their acquaintanceship.  They all work for different outlets, but she hears that The World has an opening, and determines to land a scoop that will make them take her on.

Bly overhears people talking about the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell Island and, hearing about the privatization and horrors which occur there, vows to have herself committed so that she will have information enough to write an article.  She is successful, and soon becomes familiar with the incompetence, cruelty and poor conditions associated with the mental health facilities of the era.  What she learns will form the basis for Ten Days in the Mad-House, her seminal article series about her stay.  But she must trust The World to get her out before Sam Colton, a rival reporter looking for a byline to enable him to support his sister or Marian, who wishes to step away from society stories just like Nellie, scoops her.

The Mad Girls of New York is at its most effective when following Nellie through the horrors of Blackwell Island, where her connections to her fellow inmates are harrowing and touching.  As always, Rodale knows how to write about female friendship and does so with aplomb.  Nellie herself is bright, resourceful and interesting, her curiosity credible and her courage tempered by her horror and doubt regarding her surroundings.  The asylum is suitably grim and terrifying - as it is in Bly’s own article.  Rodale has a good handle on the time period – which will be familiar to readers of her Gilded Age romances.

I enjoyed Bly’s fellow inmates – Princess, placed in captivity at her husband’s command, is particularly sympathetic.  While Sam is based on a real person, I did feel like he was a tad superfluous to the narrative – and raised my eyebrows at the implication that he and Nellie might someday strike up something of a romance, since it’s well-known who she ends up with, but it’s likely that Rodale wants a rival for Nellie to bump heads with for the race around the world which forms the basis for her next-most-famous article.  But that isn’t enough to dissuade me from giving the book a recommendation.

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Nelly Bly wants to become a reporter, something unheard of for women in 1887, unless they write for the women's page. Women are too emotional to handle real news, according to the male editors. Nelly has a proposal for the editor. She will go undercover as a patient at an insane asylum. Rumors of mistreatment have not been able to be verified and this could make her career if she can get the story. This was a good book with lots of interesting characters, strong women characters. The book isn’t fast paced but the story will compel you to keep turning pages. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

I always forget how much I love historical fiction! I read The Mad Girls of New York by Maya Rodale quickly- and enjoyed it! I didn’t know much about Nellie Bly and would love to read more about her. This story is a fictionalized account of Nellie and how she got into the insane asylum so she could write an expose. Pretty brave of her!

SYNOPSIS:

In 1887 New York City, Nellie Bly has ambitions beyond writing for the ladies pages, but all the editors on Newspaper Row think women are too emotional, respectable and delicate to do the job. But then the New York World challenges her to an assignment she’d be mad to accept and mad to refuse: go undercover as a patient at Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum for Women.

For months, rumors have been swirling about deplorable conditions at Blackwell’s, but no reporter can get in—that is, until Nellie feigns insanity, gets committed and attempts to survive ten days in the madhouse. Inside, she discovers horrors beyond comprehension. It’s an investigation that could make her career—if she can get out to tell it before two rival reporters scoop her story.

A historical fiction novel that gives a wider audience a closer look at the treatment of women during the 19th century, The Mad Girls of New York is the beginning of an intriguing series.

Strong, fierce, resourceful is only a small selection of ways to describe Rodale’s reimaging of Nellie Bly. She readily writes a feminist depiction of women trying to prove they are not a weaker sex in a world designed for white men is in a word, refreshing. Where Rodale focuses on the cruel treatment of women in any setting across the social gambit when they do not fit their designated mold, which is a one size fits all. As Nellie Bly burns that mold to ash, readers will experience first hand the subjectification of women, including Nellie.

We see this vividly in Nellie’s only way to be hired for a position at a New York news paper. Where she willingly allows herself to be placed in Insane Asylum for Women. How she herself underwent barbaric methods men used to keep women in their place because they were unwilling to understand or allow women themselves to become doctors to treat women’s mental health. Any divergency left women to the mercy of doctors diagnosing them as insane and taken away to institutions that were slowly killing them.

With investigation journalism written by women, a female character wrapped in feminist ideals, and the potential for a swoony romance (probably in the next novel… fingers tightly crossed), The Mad Girls of New York and all of its female characters will haunt you long after the final page.

Full disclosure, I've considered (a long time ago) writing a book about Nellie Bly's adventures in reporting so I was so excited for this one! For the most part, THE MAD GIRLS OF NEW YORK lived up to my expectations. Put simply. this is a fun story and I love how Rodale has interpreted history and how this novel portrays strong women. Nellie Bly herself along with the cast of supporting characters are fantastic and compelling. I would not say that this is an especially fast-paced story so if you are looking for that, there may be some parts you skim. But overall, I found this novel to be captivating and supremely entertaining.

This was interesting, entertaining and suspenseful all at once! A novel based on the true story of Nellie Bly spending 10 days in an insane asylum, “The Mad Girls of New York” humanizes the women Ms. Bly encountered during her stay. You will meet Tillie, Prayer Girl, Princess and many others who were committed for unbelievable reasons and left to suffer alone. I can’t imagine the courage of Nellie Bly and I feel I owe her, and others like her, a debt of gratitude for paving the way for women’s rights. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for proving me with a free, advance copy. 4 1/2 stars!

I have a lot of mixed feelings on this book, but I think it comes down to some parts of this dragging on a bit.

Aspects I enjoyed:
This is based on a true story
The female leads are smart, strong-willed, have energy behind them
The time period - loved reading about relatable characters based in the 1800's

What was hard for me:
Though the story was complex and interesting, it felt a bit unnecessarily long? Again, I think this could very well just be my preference for faster-paced stories!

Overall, I would recommend this book to people who are looking for a historical novel with root-able female leads!