RENEGADE GIRLS

A fictionalized account of two real figures: “stunt-girl reporter” Nell Cusack and photographer Alice Austen.

It’s 1888. Each year, Nell summers in New York City with her well-connected aunt and uncle. She’s found employment as a society reporter for the New York Chronicle, a job which she hopes to finagle into more consequential reporting, like Nellie Bly’s famous mental hospital exposé. When she discovers that her best friend, Italian American Lucia Amatucci, who works as a maid for Nell’s aunt and uncle, was injured at her second job at a garment factory, Nell goes undercover to blow the whistle on the factory’s dangerous and inhumane work environment. After her article appears in print, the factory sues the paper. Fortunately, Nell has recently become acquainted with photographer Alice Austen, whom she enlists to gather photographic evidence for subsequent articles. In the nuanced resolution, Nell confronts her own privilege in pursuit of social justice. Along the way, the gently budding romance between Nell and Alice unfolds in sweet, swoonworthy scenes. While Neus takes liberties with the story—the author’s note indicates there’s no historical evidence that Cusack was queer, though Austen spent more than 50 years with her woman partner—the fictional romance is a delight. The soft, luminous, full-color illustrations shine. The panels showing renderings of Austen’s actual photos, depicted in grayscale, are particularly evocative.

Informative historical fiction about important trailblazers featuring a charming queer romance.