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A Novel
by Lee Kravetz
Blending past and present, and told through three unique interwoven narratives that build on one another, a daring and brilliant debut novel that reimagines a chapter in the life of Sylvia Plath, telling the story behind the creation of her classic semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar.
A seductive literary mystery and mutigenerational story inspired by true events, The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. imaginatively brings into focus the period of promise and tragedy that marked the writing of Sylvia Plath's modern classic The Bell Jar. Lee Kravetz uses a prismatic narrative formed from three distinct fictional perspectives to bring Plath to life—that of her psychiatrist, a rival poet, and years later, a curator of antiquities.
Estee, a seasoned curator for a small Massachusetts auction house, makes an astonishing find: the original manuscript of Sylvia Plath's semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, written by hand in her journals fifty-five years earlier. Vetting the document, Estee will discover she's connected to Plath's legacy in an unexpected way.
Plath's psychiatrist, Dr. Ruth Barnhouse, treats Plath during the dark days she spends at McLean Hospital following a suicide attempt, and eventually helps set the talented poet and writer on a path toward literary greatness.
Poet Boston Rhodes, a malicious literary rival, pushes Plath to write about her experiences at McLean, tipping her into a fatal spiral of madness and ultimately forging her legacy.
Like Michael Cunningham's The Hours, Paula McLain's The Paris Wife, and Theresa Anne Fowler's Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. bridges fact and fiction to imagine the life of a revered writer. Suspenseful and beautifully written, Kravetz's masterful literary novel is a hugely appealing read.
"Journalist and psychotherapist Kravetz makes an engrossing fiction debut with an account of Sylvia Plath and her circle of confessional poets...Kravetz brings both authority and empathy to his depictions of mental illness. He also reveals himself to be a fine novelist." - Publishers Weekly
"[A] compelling literary mystery...Kravetz skillfully weaves the three storylines into a satisfying whole as the mystery of Plath's journals is resolved. Writing about real literary figures can be tricky, especially if their descendants are still living, but the author brings his characters, both imagined and historical, to life with sensitivity...An elegantly written novel for lovers of poetry and literary history." - Kirkus Reviews
"Lee Kravetz has created a bit of a miracle, a plot-driven literary puzzle box whose mystery lives in both its winding approach to history and its wonderous story. It's a book full of ideas about inspiration and a love for language that translates across borders, physical and generational." - Adam Johnson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for The Orphan Master's Son
"Bold, compelling, and gorgeously written, The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. is slightly reminiscent of AS Byatt's Possession, but instead of a love story, this is a tale of rivalry and betrayal. A truly satisfying page-turner." - Karen Joy Fowler, Booker Prize finalist for We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and author of The Jane Austen Book Club
"This novel is, at its heart, a Kate Atkinson-esque mystery; and Kravetz masterfully weaves [the characters'] tales together, slowly allowing us to piece together the secret around which the story revolves, while also providing stark, subtle commentary on the constraints of women's lives, sixty years ago and now. This is one of the most enjoyable—and also the most moving—novels I've read in years." - Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year
This information about The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lee Kravetz is the author of the novel The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. (Harper), as well as acclaimed nonfiction, Strange Contagion (HarperWave) and SuperSurvivors (HarperWave). He has written for print and television, including the New York Times, New York Magazine, Psychology Today, the Daily Beast, the San Francisco Chronicle, and PBS. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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