Sylvia and Ted

This is one of the most gorgeously written books I have ever read. Emma Tennant is a poet, like the late Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes were. As a result, she may take a scene with Ted Hughes at a restaurant and describe in poetic detail how he eats, watches, moves. To many this might seem ridiculous. To a poet, even Bob Dylan (who said something about - a wise man looking at a blade of grass), it can mean a great deal. Bottomline here is this. Ms. Tennant is not interested in her role and brief relationship with Ted Hughes. As a female poet who faced the same sex discrimination in the arts which Plath did, she wants to set the record straight for Sylvia Plath. And she does this with such style, panache, page-turning fascination - that if you have anything like a poet-at-heart within, you will simply adore the book.

The reviews below giving Emma Tennant's lyrical and lovely novel of the lives of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes low scores are clearly from Slyviaphiles with axes to grind. Yes, Emma Tennant dated Ted Hughes in the 1970s, but that doesn't make a whit of difference in her beautiful rendering of one of the last century's most celebrated love triangles. I savored every word and can't wait for the movie to come out.

A mesmerizing, fragmented novel of unique and bereft characters. These compulsive, creative souls feed off each other, competing furiously for their art and their personal space. A lesson here for artists and authors: ground your work in self care - not obsession and compulsion.