Sunday, February 23, 2025

About the Book

Book: Miss Blaire in Blackwell’s Island (Heiresses of Adventure Book One)

Author: Grace Hitchcock

Genre: Historical Romance True Crime

Release date: July 31, 2024

Will Edyth prove her sanity before it is too late?

On Blackwell’s Island, New York, a hospital was built to keep its patients from ever leaving.

With her late parents’ fortune under her uncle’s care until her twenty-fifth birthday in the year 1887, Edyth Blaire does not feel pressured to marry or to bow to society’s demands. She freely indulges in eccentric hobbies like fencing and riding her velocipede in her cycling costume about the city for all to see. Finding a loophole in the will, though, her uncle whisks Edyth off to the women’s lunatic asylum just weeks before her birthday. And Edyth fears she will never be found.

At the asylum she meets another inmate, who upon discovering Edyth’s plight, confesses that she is Nellie Bly, an undercover journalist for The World. Will either woman find a way to leave the terrifying island and reclaim her true self?

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About the Author

Grace Hitchcock is the award-winning author of multiple historical novels and novellas, including the American Royalty, Best Laid Plans, and Aprons & Veils series. She holds a Master’s in Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in History. Grace lives on the Northshore of New Orleans, with her husband, Dakota, sons, and daughter in a cottage that is always filled with the sounds of sweet little footsteps running at full speed. When not writing, or chasing babies, she’s baking something delightful and can usually be found with a book clutched in her fist.

More from Grace

I am thrilled to share with you my FIRST novel in the HEIRESSES OF ADVENTURE series, MISS BLAIRE IN BLACKWELL’S ISLAND, which is set in New York City in 1887. I loved writing about Edyth Blaire, our cat-rescuing, spunky heroine who spends her days painting, fencing with her dreamy instructor, and avoiding society at all costs, which as you can imagine, comes back to haunt her before the end. I’ve never written about a character who despised reading, so that was a new one for me. Edyth just doesn’t like to sit still long enough to finish a book, but you’ll find out why later.

While writing this book, I am pretty certain the librarians at my local branch were wondering what in the world my hobbies are, judging from the stacks of fencing books for beginners, histories of New York crime in the 19th century, and Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Mad-House, and more.

The inspiration for this book came from Nellie Bly’s scandalous exposé for Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper, The World. In reading Nellie’s articles, I was shocked at the grounds by which the asylum would commit women and that’s when I discovered a tiny mention about an heiress with family members who had her tucked away so they could have her fortune. . . and Edyth Blaire was born.

I hope you will enjoy reading about our eccentric leading lady and her fencing master hero, Raoul “Bane” Banebridge in this friends-to-lovers romance. If you are interested in seeing pictures of the asylum and to see what I pictured the characters looking like, check out my Pinterest board here.

Are you part of a book club? I have discussion questions here!

MY REVIEW

Once I started reading this book I couldn’t put it down. Edyth is a wonderful character. She is independent, goes against the grain of society, loved painting and fencing. Oh yes she is thought of as odd because of the way she dresses and her mode of transportation. She is wealthy but does not flaunt it at all. I loved her sense of fashion and how it fits her personality.

Let’s talk about Bane for a minute . He has been friends with Edyth for awhile. He liked spending time with teaching her the art of fencing. I thought it was funny that he didn’t have a clue that Ethyl is in love with him. When he finally realizes that she is the one for him it may already be too late. Let’s don’t forget her evil Aunt. She is the one who set this all in motion. With little regard for anyone she has Edyth disposed of in a place where hopelessness awaits. I so didn’t like her haughty attitude and lack of guilt.

When you look up the word greed in the dictionary , Uncle Boris’s face should be there. Oh how the “love of money” destroys so many. I couldn’t believe the links he goes to to send Edyth away in order to steal her inheritance. He certainly has no loyalty to family. Will his scheme work? Can Bane rescue Edyth before it is too late?

The asylum is an unimaginable place where the women are treated like animals. The conditions are horrendous and there seems little hope of escaping. Edyth cries out to God asking why He won’t save her. The story is based on historical facts which shakes me to the core. The author does an excellent job of illustrating how greed can make people do sinister things. But God! Oh he shows up big time in this story.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.