Catherine Wiebe asked Louisa Treger:

Before I started Madwoman, I read a bit about Nellie Bly. Biographies written for Nellie Bly all say that her father died when she was only 6 year old. Your novel sets his death when Pink was 14 to suggest, I assume, that her father (a man) was the one who inspired her to be inquisitive and independent. Why was your choice to credit a man for her spark and desire to be heard?

Louisa Treger Hi Catherine, sometimes I change facts to fit the narrative for the fictional retelling. It is fiction after all, and there's a note to the reader at the front of the book explaining that I have done this, especially with the chronologies.

Nellie father isn't any man - he is her father. She wasn't seeking the approval of a man for inspiration. She was looking up to a parent. Also, her mother didn't encourage her to do these worldly things. But her mother inspired her to be a storyteller so the reader can be told that Nellie's passion to write was inspired by both her parents.

flag