For her twelfth birthday in 1947 India, Nisha is given a diary. Instead of beginning entries with "Dear Diary," Nisha decides that she will write letters to her dead mother, telling her about events in her life. Only a few short weeks after receiving the diary, her world is turned upside down when Britain grants independence to India after 200 years of occupation. Because of religious tension between Muslims, Hindus, & other religions, India is split in two, with Nisha's region becoming Pakistan, a country for Muslims. Nisha & her family are Hindu & must escape to India without being killed in the widespread fighting. As she & her family run for their lives, Nisha tells her mother about their adventures along the way.
Elizabeth "Pink" Cochran wants to become a journalist in New York City, but in late 1800s America, this is a difficult task to achieve because it is not considered an appropriate job for women. In order to achieve her goals she creates the pen name Nellie Bly & goes to extremes in order to prove herself. Her first assignment in New York is to convince doctors that she is crazy so that she will be placed in the asylum on Blackwell's Island, a place that few prisoners ever leave. There she collects information about the horrific conditions in order to expose the treatment of the inmates to the public. By doing this "stunt" she is able to make a name for herself & goes on to later travel around the world in a record-breaking 72 days, marry a millionaire, & report on World War 1 from the trenches of Europe.
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