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    Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom: A Story
    Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom: A Story
    Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom: A Story
    Audiobook43 minutes

    Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom: A Story

    Written by Beverly Barton

    Narrated by Orlagh Cassidy

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    This newly discovered story by literary legend Sylvia Plath stands on its own and is remarkable for its symbolic, allegorical approach to a young woman’s rebellion against convention and forceful taking control of her own life.

    Written while Sylvia Plath was a student at Smith College in 1952, Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom tells the story of a young woman’s fateful train journey.

    Lips the color of blood, the sun an unprecedented orange, train wheels that sound like “guilt, and guilt, and guilt”: these are just some of the things Mary Ventura begins to notice on her journey to the ninth kingdom.

    “But what is the ninth kingdom?” she asks a kind-seeming lady in her carriage. “It is the kingdom of the frozen will,” comes the reply. “There is no going back.”

    Sylvia Plath’s strange, dark tale of female agency and independence, written not long after she herself left home, grapples with mortality in motion.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJan 22, 2019
    ISBN9780062940865
    Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom: A Story
    Author

    Beverly Barton

    Sylvia Plath was born in 1932 in Massachusetts. Her books include the poetry collections The Colossus, Crossing the Water, Winter Trees, Ariel, and Collected Poems, which won the Pulitzer Prize. A complete and uncut facsimile edition of Ariel was published in 2004 with her original selection and arrangement of poems. She was married to the poet Ted Hughes, with whom she had a daughter, Frieda, and a son, Nicholas. She died in London in 1963.

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    Reviews for Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom

    4/5

    201 ratings10 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be an exceptional masterpiece that completely understands mental illness. It is an interesting and intriguing read, with themes that would make for great discussions in a literature class. The discovery of one of Sylvia Plath's previously unknown works adds to the intrigue and appeal of this book.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      it was fun, gripping, well written, i liked it a lot.
    • 3/5
      For a previously rejected work, this was a pleasant surprise. It already had Plath's signature exploration of mortality and hints of suicidal ideation, but it was clear that she was still figuring out her style. It was like a fever dream, where the edges blurred, but the overall feel was eerie.
    • 4/5
      Intriguing. It was great to discover one of Sylvia Plath's previously unknown works.
    • 5/5
      Plath is an exceptional writer that completely understands mental illness in its entirety. Read this masterpiece. It will change your life.
    • 4/5
      Interesting read. You definitely can sense a lot of themes that would make a great discussion in a lit class.
    • 5/5
      I loved this story but I can confidently say that I'm not really sure what it was actually about. It was well written and spooky and I love trains and it left me with a lot to think about... Lovely.
    • 4/5
      Short and sweet read.
    • 5/5
      Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom
      by Sylvia Plath
      2019
      Faber & Faber
      5.0 / 5.0

      Mary Ventura, a young girl, tearfully says farewell to her parents before stepping onto a train, This journey should take her to the Ninth Kingdom- but which exit is it?? Will she ever find it?? You can feel the unease and dread as the train keeps going, nothing seems real on this journey.
      Haunting and partly auto-biographical, this novella Sylvia wrote when she was young and although submitted to magazines, was never published. Until now, with publisher Faber & Faber celebrating their 90th birthday with a book series called Faber Stories. They will be released throughout the year and feature stories by well-known authors. I hope I can find more in this series.
    • 3/5
      People have been critical of this extremely short story. But I liked it and got a lot of meaning out of the few short pages. Too bad it was unfinished.
    • 4/5
      Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom was written by Sylvia Plath while she was a student at Smith College in 1952. She submitted the story to Mademoiselle magazine, but it was rejected and is now being published for the first time.

      Mary Ventura’s parents have purchased a train ticket and are putting her on a train to the Ninth Kingdom. She doesn’t want to go but is coerced by her parents. On the train, she is watched over by a kind woman who helps her in her discovery of independence.

      It is not difficult to see why this piece was rejected for publication. It does not come close to Plath’s later writing. It is very simplistically written, almost juvenile. While the story was interesting, its length does not do justice to what I think it could have become if she had expanded upon her ideas. Symbolism and allegory abound.