Please join me in congratulating Tonya Mitchell on the publication of her debut historical novel, A Feigned Madness! I had the pleasure of offering Tonya some developmental assistance on this gripping tale of Nellie Bly's pioneering undercover work in an insane asylum. Here's the book description:
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.
A Feigned Madness is available in ebook and print editions on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Tonya's website for more information on Nellie Bly and the historical era of the Gilded Age.
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