THE LAST CONFESSIONS OF SYLVIA P.

This historical fiction about Sylvia Plath and her circle of confessional poets is wonderfully performed by Maggi-Meg Reed, Karissa Vacker, and Teri Clark Linden. In 2019, three notebooks are discovered that are believed to be the handwritten notes of Plath's semi-autobiographical novel, THE BELL JAR. The story is told by Estee, curator of a contemporary auction house; Boston Rhodes, a pseudonym for Agatha White, Sylvia's literary rival; and Ruth Barnhouse, the psychiatrist treating Sylvia after a failed suicide attempt. Reed's cultured tone provides Estee with intelligence and dignity. Linden's voice drips poisonously as Boston Rhodes reveals her venomous side in a letter to influential poet Robert Lowell. Vacker's Dr. Barnhouse is forward-thinking, determined, and sympathetic. Well-written and well-read, this is choice listening. S.J.H Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2022]