Spotlight & Giveaway: The Mad Girls of New York by Maya Rodale

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Maya Rodale to HJ!

Hi Maya and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, THE MAD GIRLS OF NEW YORK!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

The Mad Girls of New York is inspired by the true story of Gilded Age stunt girl reporter Nellie Bly on her first big assignment: pretend to be insane and get herself committed to the Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum. I draw on Nellie’s own writing, Ten Days In a Mad-house, but I’ve also imagined a rich personal life for her, with professional rivalries, a squad of fellow female reporters and romantic intrigues.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

My favorite line is one hundred percent original Nellie Bly: upon being asked to feign insanity, get herself committed to a notoriously foul insane asylum and write about it, she simply says “I said I could and I would. And I did.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The Mad Girls of New York based on the true story of Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Madhouse.
• One of Nellie’s love interests in the novel is the bachelor mayor of New York named Hugh Grant. There was, in fact, a bachelor mayor of New York named Hugh Grant. He was not actually Nellie’s love interest, but obviously I had to include him in my fictional version as a love interest.
• Research trips took me all over New York City, from Newspaper Row to Roosevelt Island (formerly Blackwell’s Island). I post about these adventures on my Instagram (@mayarodale) if you want to see Nellie’s NYC today.
• Some of my favorite songs that I wrote to: Impossible by Nothing But Thieves, Psychopath by St. Vincent, and No Risk by The Cults and Bury a Friend by Billie Eilish.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Call it pluck, grit, or sass but there’s something about Nellie that draws people in. She has two possible love interests in The Mad Girls of New York and both are impressed with her daring, her determination, and her fearlessness. She also, famously, had a captivating smile.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

My favorite scenes to write are the witty, snarky banter between Nellie and her friends. Whether she’s at lunch with her fellow reporters at a ladies only club, or confined to the asylum with fellow inmates at an insane asylum, I got a kick out of writing women talking to women and catch myself grinning as I write.

Here’s a snippet from a scene where Nellie tells her new friends and fellow journalists, Dorothy and Harriet, about her big assignment.

“I’m lucky to get the assignment,” Nellie said. So there was no need to be nervous. None. She was blessed. So what if there were never any stories of women leaving with their hearts still beating?
“Insane asylums or face creams. Those are a woman’s options in journalism,” Harriet remarked dryly. “But then again, at least we have options.”
“Please don’t tell Marian,” Nellie said.
“Where is Marian anyway?”
“She’s chasing an interview with the Mayor,” Harriet started and Dorothy finished, “The one who is young, single, handsome and rich.”
“I know of him,” Nellie replied. His name was Hugh Grant and was already affectionately spoken of as the Bachelor Mayor by friend and foe alike. As one might imagine, the race was on among the high society debutantes to win his heart and/or his hand in marriage. Or so Nellie gathered from her cursory glance at the society pages. “I thought Marian didn’t write gossip for the ladies pages,” Nellie quipped.
“We all do what needs to be done to pay the bills,” Harriet said.
Dorothy shook her head. “Her assignment sounds much better than yours, Nellie. I don’t think you’ll have much competition for it, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Other reporters have been trying to get the story,” Nellie said. “They haven’t been able to get access to the asylum, which is why I’m going undercover.”
Harriet shook her head. “Blackwell’s Island. Dear God.”
“I know.”
“How will you get in?” Dorothy scoffed at Harriet’s question. “How will she get out?”
“I’ll act insane, I guess.” Nellie took a sip of her pint as if it was a trifling matter to act insane and get picked up and banished to the island of misfit Manhattanites. She would have to fool doctors—that made her nervous. Beyond that she didn’t know what it would take. At this point, a person might admit that they were in over their head, assigned with an impossible task that was doomed to fail. Nellie hesitated. Then gave in. “I’m just not sure how.”
Harriet laughed. “Make yourself inconvenient and you’ll get there soon enough.”
“Inconvenient I can do. Mad, I’m not so sure. I’ll have to convince doctors and nurses and experts…”
“The bangs are a good start,” Dorothy teased. Was she teasing?
“Hey!” Nellie fluffed them with her fingers. It had certainly been a choice.

Readers should read this book….

For a “rollicking historical adventure” featuring riveting history, female friendship, romantic intrigue and women who triumph.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

The Mad Girls of New York is out April 26, 2022! And I’m always on Twitter and Instagram, sharing sneak peeks of my books and lots of selfies in historical hotspots in NYC. Find me: @mayarodale
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: We can offer one finished copy THE MAD GIRLS OF NEW YORK by Maya Rodale to any reader with a valid US shipping address.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you were a stunt girl reporter like Nellie Bly—going undercover to get a great story—what would you do? What truth would you want to expose or what experience would you like to report on? Nellie and the other stunt girls did everything from joining the ballet or fainting in the streets to getting committed to an insane asylum or trying to buy a baby!

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Book Info:

An exciting novel based on the fearless reporter Nellie Bly, who would stop at nothing to expose injustices against women in 19th century New York, even at the risk of her own life and freedom.

In 1887 New York City, Nellie Bly has ambitions beyond writing for the ladies pages, but all the editors on Newspaper Row think women are too emotional, respectable and delicate to do the job. But then the New York World challenges her to an assignment she’d be mad to accept and mad to refuse: go undercover as a patient at Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum for Women.

For months, rumors have been swirling about deplorable conditions at Blackwell’s, but no reporter can get in—that is, until Nellie feigns insanity, gets committed and attempts to survive ten days in the madhouse. Inside, she discovers horrors beyond comprehension. It’s an investigation that could make her career—if she can get out to tell it before two rival reporters scoop her story.

From USA Today bestselling author Maya Rodale comes a rollicking historical adventure series about the outrageous intrigues and bold flirtations of the most famous female reporter—and a groundbreaking rebel—of New York City’s Gilded Age.
 
 

Meet the Author:

Maya Rodale is the best-selling and award-winning author of funny, feminist fiction including historical romance, YA and historical fiction. A champion of the romance genre and its readers, she is also the author of Dangerous Books For Girls: The Bad Reputation of Romance Novels, Explained. Maya reviews romance for NPR and has appeared in Bustle, Glamour, Shondaland, Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post and PBS. She began reading romance novels in college at her mother’s insistence and has never been allowed to forget it.

Visit her online at www.mayarodale.com.

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Twitter: @mayarodale