Crazy

The year is 1887. Twenty-three-year-old Nellie Bly sets off for New York, determined to make her name as a serious journalist at any cost. But life in the city is tougher than she imagined, and no newspaper is interested in a female reporter. In desperation, Nellie comes up with an irresistible offer for the leading paper, The World: a true exposé from the women's lunatic asylum on Blackwell's Island, which she plans to enter by feigning madness. It's the only way she can find out how much truth there is to the rumours of inhumane conditions there. This piques the interest of the newspaper's owner, Joseph Pulitzer, and he promises Nellie that he will arrange for her release after a short time.

However, when the doors of the asylum close behind the young undercover journalist, she finds herself in a place filled with horrors, ruled by a cruelty she could never have imagined. The cold, isolated, and hungry days of fear and anxiety reawaken traumatic events from her childhood. She entered the asylum voluntarily – but will she ever be able to get out?

Madwoman, an extraordinary portrait of a woman ahead of her time, is a story about the search for a truth that changed the world.

A HISTORICAL NOVEL OF THE YEAR ACCORDING TO THE TIMES AND THE SUNDAY TIMES

Translated by Veronika Lásková.