Exhaustively researched, often brilliant biography of Sylvia Plath

ALMOST six decades after her death, Sylvia Plath stands as the most consequential poet of her generation. As a feminine voice, she dominates the 20th century. At the time of Plath’s death at age 30, critic A Alvarez wrote: “The loss to literature is inestimable.” The years have proved him right.

Because of the importance of her work – her won the Pulitzer Prize, is a coming-of-age classic – and because of the sensational circumstances of her death, extraordinary attention has been paid to Plath in both the academic and mainstream press.