Burnt Diaries

I read this book at a sitting, due to my fascination with Hughes and the seeming power he exerted over certain women, as well as the way he responded to those relationships. It certainly clarified a lot, although as other reviewers have noted, more about Tennant herself would have supplemented this. Interesting to compare ths with Malcolm's The Silent Woman, which is more a literaty pursuit of the Hughes and Plath myth. It is compelling reading, and well worth adding to any collection on the poets.

This is one of the most important books ever written on arguably the two greatest poets of the 20th Century. Tennant is no self-centered voyeur here. She is a most prolific and poetic writer herself with a wonderful fresh point of view (based on her longtime friendship with Hughes) about what really happened that prompted the marriage to dissolve and Plath to tragically commit suicide as she did. Tennant's relationship/friendship with Hughes is written about only to set the stage. She is far more interested in the facts. And what is discovered and presented in this book is almost unimaginable. It involves these simple issues: Who was Plath's last visitor on the night she took her life? Why did she and this visitor argue so vehemently and loudly that the fellow in the apartment below was awakened by the racket? No one has had the courage to look at this. And then there is that mysterious issue about what happened to Plath's diary - the one she kept according to friends and relatives up to the day she died? Who would benefit from it being "destroyed" or "burned" and more importantly why? Both this book and Tennant's book, "Ted and Sylvia" are masterpieces if you find the subject matter of these late and great poets along with their most complicated personas of interest. Lastly, both books end with a most sympathetic and genuine fondness and respect for both Hughes and Plath. No bashing here - just eloquent sensitive memoirs of substantial import. Highly recommended.