The Girl Puzzle: A Story of Nellie Bly by Kate Braithwaite

Author: Kate Braithwaite

Title: The Girl Puzzle: A Story of Nellie Bly

Publisher: Kindle 

Published: 2019

Pages: 263

Genre: Historical Fiction 

     Down to her last dime and offered the chance of a job of a lifetime at The New York World, twenty-three-year-old Elizabeth Cochrane agrees to get herself admitted to Blackwell’s Island Lunatic Asylum and report on conditions from the inside. But what happened to her poor friend, Tilly Mayard? Was there more to her high praise of Dr. Frank Ingram than everyone knew? Thirty years later, Elizabeth, known as Nellie Bly, is no longer a celebrated trailblazer and the toast of Newspaper Row. Instead, she lives in a suite in the Hotel McAlpin, writes a column for The New York Journal, and runs an informal adoption agency for the city’s orphans. Beatrice Alexander is her secretary, fascinated by Miss Bly and her causes and crusades. Asked to type up a manuscript revisiting her employer’s experiences in the asylum in 1887, Beatrice believes she’s been given the key to understanding one of the most innovative and daring figures of the age.

     Quite some time ago I was watching a program whose name escapes me now but within this episode, they briefly talked about a woman named  Elizabeth Cochrane. She was not someone I had ever heard of before but from this brief glimpse, she sounds like someone I should know more about. I spent time searching the web here and there finding out what I could about here. And what I did find left me truly astounded. How could she have been so severely marginalized in the annals of history after having achieved so much? Well as with all things I wish to learn about I next went searching for books about her. And that is how I came to have my hands on a copy of  The Girl Puzzle: A Story of Nellie Bly. Now if I'm being honest I didn't appreciate that this book was a work of historical fiction before setting off. Although as the blurb at the very end of the book states this author did base as much as was within her powers to on Cochrane's real life. So for me, I think there is still a lot to learn not only about the real woman but also what it was like for women in the 1800s and what it meant to spend time behind the wall of an asylum when care and understanding seemed the furthest from many of those who worked there's minds. 

     It's funny how so many of the things we take for granted now not so long ago were truly radical steps to take. Bly's choices in life for her were a step away from a path that was all planned out for her whether she liked it or not. Be it strike me she was exactly one for taking no for an answer. It was interesting to be allowed to step into her shoes and see just what it took to do what she did. For the most part, there is clearly a great deal of evidence and accounts to back up what Brauithwaite presents to us here. So whilst there are obvious liberties taken within conversations and some action this does aid in the flow of the story. And within what I do know about the real Bly it never seemed like the author was stepping too far from the path of truth. It for me is a great blending of truth and fiction to help guide her readers into a world that for most they probably know little about. And it was hardly like she was trying to rewrite history to make Bly into something she was not. 

     So what we are left with is a staggering and most definitely harrowing account of Bly's life. Now by no means has the author set out to try and tell the whole story of Bly's life. What we are delivered is more the bookends of her time on this earth. Still leaving plenty for you as the reader to go off and explore. But it is enough to realize that what people thought of as mental health back then was so far off from doing anything to help anyone, that the world was in need of someone like Bly. I suppose we forget that once upon a time Investigative reports could and did make a difference to the world. BUt maybe that's the point that because of men and women like Bly the world has changed and moved on. We are no longer stuck with pseudo-science to rest what is wrong with us. It astounds me what she was willing to put herself through in order to break this story. But this is once again a case of women being left out of the history books. their achievements are written off as the works of others. Whilst the men around her still have their names known. Plastered across buildings and awards to remind future generations of who they were.

     For the most part, I felt Braithewaite not only took as much as she could from the real history but managed to craft a tale that would keep anyone glued to the pages.  Sometimes it becomes easier to learn about a person or place if it can be wrapped up within a story rather than just straight pages of facts and for me, this works here. There were more than plenty of opportunities to go off and google people she encountered and the very places she put her feet. This in turn opened up whole new lives to go and explore. For me, that is always the mark of a great book that deals with both fact and a little fiction. It is in seeing how she started her career that we realize how she become famous in her day. But the flip side to this coin is also seeing how it would only carry her so far. Despite being a time in which a great many things were changing for women she was still held back by a great many rules. What we are left with is a debt we owe her for helping to shine a light on the atrocities that were taking place. Maybe one that she was not really paid back for.  

     This book is definitely a great read to get into who she was and most definitely a jumping-off point for further research. Hers is a name we all should have learned about in school along with so many other lost women who helped to change the course of history. So Braithwaite has done her a great service in writing this book. Hopefully helping to bring to light for a great many more the amazing things Bly did in her short time on this planet.