Sylvia Plath in Devon: A Year's Turning

by Elizabeth Sigmund, Gail Crowther

** This electronic edition includes 13 colour illustrations **

Sylvia Plath in Devon: A Year's Turning is part memoir, part biography focusing on the fifteen months that Sylvia Plath lived in North Tawton, Devon from September 1961 to December 1962. This was an extraordinary time for Plath as she finished the proofs on her first novel "The Bell Jar" and in the autumn of 1962 produced most of her dazzling "Ariel" poems. Elizabeth Sigmund recalls the year of her friendship with Plath from their first meeting drinking tea to attending music concerts together. Gail Crowther considers the impact Plath's domestic life had on her creative work during this period drawing for the first time on unpublished letters , documents and previously unseen resources from a wide range of archives in the UK, US and Canada. What emerges is a unique and industrious picture of Plath as she settled into town life forging new friendships, giving birth to her second child, decorating her new home and producing some of the most memorable and powerful poetry of the 20th century.

** This electronic edition includes 13 colour illustrations **

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 8, 2014

About the author

Elizabeth Sigmund (1928-2017) is co-ordinator of the Organophosphate Information Network and has been involved with the Working Party on Chemical and Biological Weapons since the mid-1960s. For this work she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Plymouth in 2001.

Reviews

[Cate Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amateurish and gossipy, but with a few good tidbits that add to the Plath legend. A worthwhile read for true Plath fans.

[Spinster · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title of this book implies, Sylvia Plath in Devon: A Year's Turning focuses on the time Plath spent at Court Green, her house in Devon. It includes a short memoir by Elizabeth Sigmund, who was Plath's friend at the end of her life. Sigmund also lived in Court Green for a brief period after Plath's death and knew Plath's husband, Ted Hughes, and the woman who came between them, Assia Wevill.



The majority of the book is a kind of expanded timeline of Plath's life at Court Green: dates of parties attended, snippets of letters and journal entries, an overview of which poems were written when. This section ends abruptly when Plath moves to London. The book is further padded with a tedious introduction by Plath's posthumous stalker Peter K. Steinberg, and a rather lovely essay about a poem Sigmund wrote in Plath's memory. I'd read the essay before when an earlier version of it was published online, but it was worth re-reading.



So, now that I've finished reading the book I'm a bit conflicted. Who is this for? What is its purpose? It's short (less than 100 pages, according to Amazon), and expensive ($10 on Kindle) and there's nothing particularly noteworthy here. I do like Crowther's writing style and would be interested in reading more of her work, but I hope any books she publishes in the future are a bit meatier.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

"...The terrible winter of 1962-63 set in, the Big Freeze, and Plath would die in February. During the terrible snow storms, the roof blew off Plath's hive in Davies' garden. But come spring, when Davies went to check on the bees they were still alive because Plath wrapped and packed them so preciously." (87)

How could I not but grow to adore this woman even more after reading how much care and thought she put into protecting her bees?
3.5

[Pm · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ten pages were good. A few good photos. The rest - an absolutely pointless rehash of Plath's biography.

The pages written by Sigmund are just padded out. I have no interest in a poem she wrote about Plath - who cares?

Fine if you know nothing about Plath - although in that case Red Comet would be a far better choice. Waste of time otherwise.

[Tim Andrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's about a year Sylvia Plath spent in Devon. Biography/memoir with a dash of literary criticism thrown in. Slightly amateurish - this happened, then this, then that - style. The best bit is the Dylan Thomas quote from which the title is taken:

O may my heart's truth
Still be sung
On this high hill in a year's turning.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, only wish there was more. Always been intrigued about how this east coast american poet with all her associated bipolar intensity, not to mention ruthless intellect, experienced living in very rural England in the 1960s. A time when she would have been Mrs Hughes and expected to do little more than look after children.