Miller, Ben

It is the last decade of the nineteenth century, and beautiful, wealthy, intelligent Jo Montfort knows what life has in store for her: a loveless marriage to someone within her upper-class set; children; an endless round of tedious social events. The young New Yorker yearns for a different path, to follow in the footsteps of her hero, audacious female journalist Nellie Bly. Unfortunately, this seems an impossible dream—until Jo’s father is found dead, an apparent suicide, and she begins to investigate. Aided and abetted by Eddie Gallagher, a cocky young journalist, the determined Jo comes up with ways to escape her constricted world, and discovers some grim truths behind her gilded life. As with her two previous works of historical fiction, A Northern Light (rev. 5/03) and Revolution, Donnelly fills her scenes with rich period detail. Whether at a society ball, a rough waterfront, or a miserable boarding house, the sensory images are vividly described. “The smell of unwashed bodies and chamber pots was overwhelming. But there was an even worse stench underneath those—the stench of despair.” An ever-deepening and more riveting mystery, a heroine you can’t help cheering on, thoughtful considerations of class and gender, as well as a swoon-worthy romance