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Kate Braithwaite

Autor(a) de The Girl Puzzle: A Story of Nellie Bly

3 Works 88 Membros 5 Críticas

Obras por Kate Braithwaite

The Road to Newgate (2018) 19 exemplares
Charlatan (2016) 11 exemplares

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Membros

Críticas

A fascinating read. This is the story of Nelly Bly, one of the first female American journalists and how she feigned madness to get herself admitted to a mental asylum in NYC. For 10 days she endured horrible treatment and witnessed the same of the many women there as well. Upon her release, she wrote articles for it for "The World" newspaper. She was also an advocate for orphaned children and worked endlessly for their cause her entire lifetime.

The story is told chapter to chapter from her point of view during those times as a young woman trying to break into a man only job field, to her period in the asylum and what came after. The alternating chapters were the point of view of her assistant Beatrice later in Nellie's life as she was writing the whole truth of her time in the asylum until the end of her life.

A terrific read!
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Assinalado
ChrisCaz | 1 outra crítica | Feb 23, 2021 |
Based on a true story about a pioneering female journalist, told in the format of a dual timeline set in 1887 and 1921. Elizabeth Cochrane, aka Nellie Bly, desperate for a job on a newspaper, impersonates an insane woman in order to infiltrate Blackwell Island’s Asylum in New York and report back on care and conditions. Some thirty years later she is living in a hotel, running an adoption agency, with Beatrice Alexander as her secretary. Beatrice is given a manuscript to type up which revisits Nellie’s experiences in the asylum and this gives Beatrice a great insight into Nellie’s psyche.

I’d heard of Nellie Bly but didn’t really know anything about her, so I found this book extremely interesting and also fascinating and compelling. It seems very well researched and conveys a realistic and shocking interpretation of life in an asylum during the Victorian era. It’s horrifying to think that some people were committed to such places just because they were a little confused or had fallen on hard times, they weren’t insane at all. It’s beautifully and vividly written. I think the author has done a fantastic job of filling in the gaps and elaborating on grey areas. The story isn’t always dark - Beatrice gives the tale a little lightness with her budding romance with Ernest Coulter, an employee of the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children, fictional though it may be!

If you enjoy fiction based on lesser known characters in history, you couldn’t do better than read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can highly recommend it.
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Assinalado
VanessaCW | 1 outra crítica | Apr 29, 2019 |
I read this book much more slowly than is usual for me. There is no reason why this would be the case for other readers as the style is very readable with a good mix of dialogue and action. But for me, there was a lot to think about as I kept seeing parallels between what was happening in 1678 in England and the current political climate of scandal, manipulation of public opinion and facile assumptions. I think the best value of history is helping us to see our own time more clearly.

This is a story about lies, treason, trials and intrigue. It is also a study of publicity, truth, self-worth and justice. It has great pace and plenty of glimpes of everyday life in seventeenth century London. It shows domestic and private moments as well as first-hand accounts of historically recorded events. It shows 'little people' with their own personal values and tells the story from the first-person viewpoint of just three fictional characters; Anne, her husband Nat and their friend William.

I enjoyed reading this novel and would now like to find out more about the period, especially what life in booming reconstructed London was like. I'll want to read more of Kate Braithwaite's writing as I'm impressed by the subtly unsettling effect of her writing on me without her ever preaching or using a modern narrative voice.
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Assinalado
urutherford | 1 outra crítica | Aug 9, 2018 |
A well researched and enjoyable historical thriller combining fact with fiction set during the reign of King Charles II. It's narrated by three of the main characters, Nathaniel Thompson, Licenser of the Presses, his wife, Anne, and their friend, William Smith, a disgraced school teacher. When the murder of a prominent Protestant magistrate occurs amidst the chaos created by tales, fabricated by Titus Oates, of a Catholic uprising known as the Popish Plot, Nathaniel decides to take matters into his own hands. And what a conman Titus Oates was! It beggars belief just how people believed his lies.

I thought this was an impressive piece of writing. It's very vivid, gritty and atmospheric. The descriptions of life during such a tempestuous time time in history are fascinating and so easy to visualise. There is much attention to to detail. The murder mystery itself is gripping and intriguing, quite the page turner. The characters are well depicted, both fictional and real, Anne Thompson being my favourite, a tenacious and determined lady!

Historical fiction is my favourite genre, especially when it's based on fact. I found The Road to Newgate to be a great example - it makes for compelling and interesting reading. I can highly recommend it.
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Assinalado
VanessaCW | 1 outra crítica | Jul 26, 2018 |

Prémios

Estatísticas

Obras
3
Membros
88
Popularidade
#209,356
Avaliação
3.9
Críticas
5
ISBN
4

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