A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY "BEST NEW COMIC OF 2022 FOR ADULTS"
Beautifully adapted and rendered through piercing illustrations by
acclaimed creators Brad Ricca and Courtney Sieh, Nellie Bly's complete,
true-to-life 19th-century investigation of Blackwell Asylum
captures a groundbreaking moment in history and reveals a haunting and
timely glimpse at the starting point for conversations on mental
health.
"I said I could and I would. And I did."
While working for Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper in 1887, Nellie Bly began
an undercover investigation into the local Women's Lunatic Asylum on
Blackwell Island. Intent on seeing what life was like on the inside, Bly
fooled trained physicians into thinking she was insane--a task too
easily achieved--and had herself committed. In her ten days at the
asylum, Bly witnessed horrifying conditions: the food was inedible, the
women were forced into labor for the staff, the nurses and doctors were
cruel or indifferent, and many of the women held there had no mental
disorder of any kind.
Now adapted into graphic novel form by Brad Ricca and vividly rendered
with beautiful and haunting illustrations by Courtney Sieh, Bly's bold
venture is given new life and meaning. Her fearless investigation into
the living conditions at the Blackwell Asylum forever changed the field
of journalism. A timely reminder to take notice of forgotten
populations, Ten Days in a Mad-House warns us what happens when we
look away.
