A Feigned Madness - by Tonya Mitchell (Paperback)

About the Book

Elizabeth Cochrane, later known as daredevil reporter Nellie Bly, infiltrates the notorious Blackwell's Asylum to report on its abuses and distinguish herself in the cutthroat world of New York journalism.

Book Synopsis

The insane asylum on Blackwell's Island is a human rat trap. It is easy to get in, but once there it is impossible to get out. -Nellie Bly

Elizabeth Cochrane has a secret.

She isn't the madwoman with amnesia the doctors and inmates at Blackwell's Asylum think she is.

In truth, she's working undercover for the New York World. When the managing editor refuses to hire her because she's a woman, Elizabeth strikes a deal: in exchange for a job, she'll impersonate a lunatic to expose a local asylum's abuses.

When she arrives at the asylum, Elizabeth realizes she must make a decision-is she there merely to bear witness, or to intervene on behalf of the abused inmates? Can she interfere without blowing her cover? As the superintendent of the asylum grows increasingly suspicious, Elizabeth knows her scheme-and her dream of becoming a journalist in New York-is in jeopardy.

A Feigned Madness is a meticulously researched, fictionalized account of the woman who would come to be known as daredevil reporter Nellie Bly. At a time of cutthroat journalism, when newspapers battled for readers at any cost, Bly emerged as one of the first to break through the gender barrier-a woman who would, through her daring exploits, forge a trail for women fighting for their place in the world.

Review Quotes

Debut author Mitchell brings the courageous, determined Nellie Bly to vivid life in this fictionalized account of one of Bly's most daring escapades: her ten days in the notorious asylum at Blackwell's Island. Mixing known history with intriguing speculation, Mitchell depicts the horrific conditions of the asylum, Bly's ambitious rise as a newspaperwoman, and the magnetic draw of forbidden love with equal skill. -Greer Macallister, USA Today best-selling author of The Magician's Lie and The Arctic Fury

Mitchell takes us on a journey through the gates of hell to a place as mesmerizing as it is dark. A compelling read for anyone with an interest in Victorian history. -Pam Lecky, author of The Lucy Lawrence Mystery Series

This vivid, enthralling novel of daredevil reporter Nellie Bly's undercover exposé of the abuses at Blackwell's Island Asylum for Women took me by the throat and never let go. Nellie Bly's ambitions, talents, pugnacity, and huge heart shine throughout. A Feigned Madness is a knockout. -Kim Taylor Blakemore, author of The Companion and After Alice Fell

A riveting tale of a female daredevil who risked all for ambition in Gilded Age New York. Mitchell's Nellie Bly is a captivating heroine whose suspenseful story inspires even as it intrigues. -award-winning novelist and journalist Ann Shortell

A page-turning thrill ride through an often overlooked historical atrocity, A Feigned Madness vividly recounts the horrors of Blackwell's Island and the mistreatment of its inmates. As a reader, I could really feel Nellie Bly's tenacious thirst to see them have justice. -USA Today best-selling author Nicole Evelina

In Feigned Madness by Tonya Mitchell, we meet Elizabeth Cochrane as an ambitious young woman trying to make a name for herself as a journalist, something very few women had been able to accomplish. She has high hopes and pushes her way into the World, Pulitzer's newspaper, and slowly convinces the powers that be to give her a chance. Elizabeth will do whatever it takes, however it takes to do it. Elizabeth is given a pen name that will long be remembered - Nellie Bly. As Nelly fights with all that is in her to succeed, her first journalistic test will be to get herself into Blackwell's Island asylum. Elizabeth passes the test after being examined by several doctors and is admitted. Knowing her stay will only be for a short time before the newspaper comes to rescue her, she believes she can endure her stay.

You must read for yourself what this courageous young lady endures, what she finds, and how she handles it. This amazing feat gets Elizabeth the job she so badly wants and changes the path of journalism forever. Along the way, Elizabeth finds love, joy, sadness, friendship and so much more. A Feigned Madness took me on an incredible journey back to the Victorian era of the late 1800s. If you enjoy historical fiction with real historical people and events thrown in, then this is a must-read for you. I loved A Feigned Madness and applaud Tonya Mitchell on her first novel. I found it impossible not to love Elizabeth, aka Nelly, and wanted to go back in time to meet her. I urge you not to pass up A Feigned Madness for you will not be disappointed.

Reviewed by Trudi LoPreto for Readers' Favorite

About the Author

Tonya Mitchell lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and three sons. Her short fiction has appeared in various journals and anthologies. Her debut novel, A Feigned Madness, the story of Nellie Bly's undercover stay inside a women's asylum to report the atrocities within, won the Reader Views Reviewer's Choice Award and the Kops-Fetherling Phoenix Award for Best New Voice in Historical Fiction.