Bold...Brilliant...Brave...Heroines Throughout History ~
Nellie Bly
Today, I’m taking a look at the
fascinating reporter known as Nellie Bly, a pioneer of investigative
journalism. In an era when women were expected to tend home and hearth, Nellie
Bly’s undercover investigations exposed corruption, inhumane conditions in a
mental health facility, and poor working conditions in factories.
Five Facts about Nellie Bly:
~ In November 1889, Nellie
Bly embarked on a journey around the world. Striving to travel the globe in
less than the eighty days that it took fictional character Phileas Fogg in
Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days,
Nellie Bly employed an assortment of transportation, including ship, horse,
rickshaw, and burro to accomplished the feat. Her journey took seventy-two days
and six hours, which at that time was a world’s record.
~ Working for Joseph
Pulitzer’s New York World, Nellie
Bly’s daring undercover investigation of a mental institution exposed
deplorable treatment of the mentally ill. Feigning amnesia and insanity, she
was committed to the Women’s Asylum on Blackwell’s Island in New York for ten
days. Her subsequent exposé prompted an investigation of the asylum and reforms
to the treatment of patients.
~ Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth
Jane Cochran in 1864 in Pennsylvania. The third of her mother’s five children, she
was considered the most rebellious child in her family.
~ In 1885, her rebuttal to a
column in the Pittsburgh Dispatch that criticized working women brought her to
the attention of the paper’s editor, who hired her and gave her the pen name,
Nellie Bly.
~ Working for the Pittsburgh
Dispatch, Nellie Bly published articles on the experiences of factory girls and
traveled to Mexico to serve as a foreign correspondent. After her return, she
was assigned to the women’s page, covering subjects such as fashion and
gardening, prompting Nellie to leave Pittsburgh to New York.
These are only a few facts
about Nellie Bly’s trailblazing life and journalistic accomplishments. Next
month, I’ll take a more detailed look at her experiences on her travels around
the world.
To learn more about Nellie
Bly, check out these sources:
Photographs of Nellie Bly
used in this post are in the public domain.
Click here to learn more about When A Lady Deceives |
News About My New
Release, When A Lady Deceives.
I’m thrilled that my
Victorian romantic thriller, When A Lady
Deceives, is now available. Like Nellie Bly, the heroine of When A Lady Deceives is a crusading
investigative journalist. Jennie Quinn, star reporter for a London paper, is a daring
woman who will overcome daunting obstacles to get the facts and fight for
justice. She anticipates the danger of her investigation of an informant’s
murder. But she doesn’t expect to fall in love, especially not with a very
dangerous man. Here’s a little about the story:
A woman with a secret and a dangerous man forge an
undeniable passion.
In Victorian London, reporter
Jennie Quinn employs deception as a weapon. Going undercover to seek justice
for a murdered informant, she’s drawn into a powerful criminal’s seductive game
of cat and mouse. Enigmatic former lawman Matthew Colton is as dangerous as he
is clever, but the passion in his kiss is too tempting to resist. She aches to
trust him, but she will not abandon her quest for the truth.
Colton is a man with secrets
of his own. Thirsting for vengeance, the disgraced Scotland Yard detective has infiltrated
the criminal world he’s vowed to destroy. Jennie intrigues him, even as she
breaks down the barriers around his heart. He yearns to uncover her secrets—in
and out of his bed. Driven to shield her, he’ll risk everything to protect the
woman whose love heals his soul.
To read more about When A Lady Deceives and enjoy an
excerpt, please click here.