What do you think?
Rate this book
The Daffodil Days
In the early 1960s in a small Devonshire town, the church bells ring. The people of North Tawton go about their days, catching glimpses of each other's lives.
There's Dr Webb, who knows more about his patients than he would sometimes prefer. There's Jenny, the sales assistant at Kestrels, who understands that the ladies who come to the boutique are often looking to buy a feeling over a new outfit. There's Bill Nicholls, who climbs the belfry ladder each week to ring the church bells, their notes - harmonious and clashing - rippling across the rooftops.
Amidst all these lives, a young couple shimmers into focus. New to the town with their two children, they have fled London for a quieter existence in the idyllic thatched cottage, Court Green. The life they will construct here – out of fresh lino tiles, furniture painted white with red hearts and expertly hosted dinner parties – will be a good, happy one.
The Daffodil Days depicts a pivotal year in the marriage of 20th century literature's most infamous couple, as witnessed by the people they lived amongst; a kaleidoscopic portrait of this enigmatic couple refracted through the rich inner lives of a community caught, if only for a moment, in their light.
There's Dr Webb, who knows more about his patients than he would sometimes prefer. There's Jenny, the sales assistant at Kestrels, who understands that the ladies who come to the boutique are often looking to buy a feeling over a new outfit. There's Bill Nicholls, who climbs the belfry ladder each week to ring the church bells, their notes - harmonious and clashing - rippling across the rooftops.
Amidst all these lives, a young couple shimmers into focus. New to the town with their two children, they have fled London for a quieter existence in the idyllic thatched cottage, Court Green. The life they will construct here – out of fresh lino tiles, furniture painted white with red hearts and expertly hosted dinner parties – will be a good, happy one.
The Daffodil Days depicts a pivotal year in the marriage of 20th century literature's most infamous couple, as witnessed by the people they lived amongst; a kaleidoscopic portrait of this enigmatic couple refracted through the rich inner lives of a community caught, if only for a moment, in their light.
288 pages, Unknown Binding
First published June 9, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
November 12, 2025
I'm not completely sure I understand what point this novel is trying to make: interestingly, the blurb plays down the Plath/Hughes connection but, at the same time, the local characters don't stand up in and of themselves other than through their connection to Plath.
There's the doctor who sews the top of her thumb back after she slices it through; there's the woman who gives her riding lessons on the horse Ariel. We know about these episodes from Plath's life from her writings and poetry and I'm not sure anything is added recounting them obliquely through another consciousness. The riding instructor, for example, still keeps Plath on a rein so the speed and transcendence that the poem 'Ariel' expresses so powerfully is not a part of the story told here.
It's also the case that not all the chapters are told by people in the local community as is suggested by the blurb : there are London visitors like Al Alvarez and the Merwins who were associated with Plath and Hughes and who also comment at a distance on the central relationship. We also follow Plath to London where she is recording some poetry at Broadcasting House, the episode filtered through the consciousness of a young woman planning to put an end to an unwanted pregnancy: it's quite an interesting piece but feels oddly, aimlessly, juxtaposed against Plath.
The one chapter that worked very well for me is where Plath goes into a local shop to buy a new dress for a trip to London. Her relationship with the shop girl reminded me distinctly of the Virginia Woolf short story, 'Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street' (which was the original beginning of Mrs Dalloway but which Woolf re-wrote and treated the off-cut as a story in its own right). The intertext focuses on class, empathy, and the social language of clothing of which both Woolf and Plath were very conscious, knowingly so.
Perhaps if there had been more of this craft in the other chapters this would have been more impactful? As it is, fans of Plath will probably know all these small events anyway; and anyone new to Plath would be better served by one of the many biographies or by reading her own extensive writings. I ended up puzzled by this book and the disconnect between the blurb and what I read.
Thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC via Netgalley
There's the doctor who sews the top of her thumb back after she slices it through; there's the woman who gives her riding lessons on the horse Ariel. We know about these episodes from Plath's life from her writings and poetry and I'm not sure anything is added recounting them obliquely through another consciousness. The riding instructor, for example, still keeps Plath on a rein so the speed and transcendence that the poem 'Ariel' expresses so powerfully is not a part of the story told here.
It's also the case that not all the chapters are told by people in the local community as is suggested by the blurb : there are London visitors like Al Alvarez and the Merwins who were associated with Plath and Hughes and who also comment at a distance on the central relationship. We also follow Plath to London where she is recording some poetry at Broadcasting House, the episode filtered through the consciousness of a young woman planning to put an end to an unwanted pregnancy: it's quite an interesting piece but feels oddly, aimlessly, juxtaposed against Plath.
The one chapter that worked very well for me is where Plath goes into a local shop to buy a new dress for a trip to London. Her relationship with the shop girl reminded me distinctly of the Virginia Woolf short story, 'Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street' (which was the original beginning of Mrs Dalloway but which Woolf re-wrote and treated the off-cut as a story in its own right). The intertext focuses on class, empathy, and the social language of clothing of which both Woolf and Plath were very conscious, knowingly so.
Perhaps if there had been more of this craft in the other chapters this would have been more impactful? As it is, fans of Plath will probably know all these small events anyway; and anyone new to Plath would be better served by one of the many biographies or by reading her own extensive writings. I ended up puzzled by this book and the disconnect between the blurb and what I read.
Thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC via Netgalley
July 1, 2026
Visions of Sylvia
Helen Bain’s debut novel, “The Daffodil Days,” offers an inventive reframing of the final year of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes’ marriage. Rather than a standard biographical retelling, Bain presents a portrait of the couple's final intense and tragic year in North Tawton, Devon, as seen through the eyes of the people who surrounded them.
The novel’s most striking feature is its structure. It is told in reverse chronology, beginning with the packing up of Court Green in December 1962 and moving backward to 1961. This choice serves a clear purpose: to roll back the events leading to Plath’s eventual death and return to a moment of optimism and potential. While this approach effectively builds a sense of intimacy and foreboding, it also forces the reader to acknowledge the 'before'—the moments of optimism and potential—that we know will be extinguished. This makes the narrative feel less like a tragedy and more like a study of lost opportunity.
Bain avoids a singular focus by utilizing a multi-perspective narrative that incorporates voices from the community, such as neighbors, a shop assistant, a midwife, and a local doctor. This "peripheral" approach moves Plath beyond her status as a distant icon of literary tragedy, presenting her instead as a tangible, living participant in the world. For instance, seeing Plath through the eyes of Nancy, a cleaner, highlights the mundane frustrations of domestic life, while the perspective of the local bellringer reframes Plath not as a literary icon, but as a restless, living participant in their small-town reality.
Bain’s exhaustive and precise research grounds the narrative in authentic historical details, ranging from the specific camel-colored suit Plath mentioned in her correspondence to the technical aspects of mid-century radio recording. Recently released material, including two volumes of detailed letters, helped to inform the novel. Her prose is both intelligent and supple, constructing vignettes that function like time travel. These scenes successfully evoke the atmosphere of rural Devon during the 1960s.
"The Daffodil Days" stands as a remarkable debut, rewarding readers with a profound reflection on the delicacy of human connections, artistic expression, and tenacity. While the reverse timeline and the reliance on the reader's existing knowledge of Plath’s life may create a barrier for some, the novel’s emotional intelligence and narrative daring make it a significant contribution to literary historical fiction. Ultimately, “The Daffodil Days” is essential reading for fans of Plath who want to see her liberated from the 'mythology' of her own life, though those unfamiliar with her biography may need to do a little research to fully appreciate the context of these fleeting, multifaceted vignettes.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #TheDaffodilDays #NetGalley
"I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. " - Sylvia Plath
Helen Bain’s debut novel, “The Daffodil Days,” offers an inventive reframing of the final year of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes’ marriage. Rather than a standard biographical retelling, Bain presents a portrait of the couple's final intense and tragic year in North Tawton, Devon, as seen through the eyes of the people who surrounded them.
The novel’s most striking feature is its structure. It is told in reverse chronology, beginning with the packing up of Court Green in December 1962 and moving backward to 1961. This choice serves a clear purpose: to roll back the events leading to Plath’s eventual death and return to a moment of optimism and potential. While this approach effectively builds a sense of intimacy and foreboding, it also forces the reader to acknowledge the 'before'—the moments of optimism and potential—that we know will be extinguished. This makes the narrative feel less like a tragedy and more like a study of lost opportunity.
Bain avoids a singular focus by utilizing a multi-perspective narrative that incorporates voices from the community, such as neighbors, a shop assistant, a midwife, and a local doctor. This "peripheral" approach moves Plath beyond her status as a distant icon of literary tragedy, presenting her instead as a tangible, living participant in the world. For instance, seeing Plath through the eyes of Nancy, a cleaner, highlights the mundane frustrations of domestic life, while the perspective of the local bellringer reframes Plath not as a literary icon, but as a restless, living participant in their small-town reality.
Bain’s exhaustive and precise research grounds the narrative in authentic historical details, ranging from the specific camel-colored suit Plath mentioned in her correspondence to the technical aspects of mid-century radio recording. Recently released material, including two volumes of detailed letters, helped to inform the novel. Her prose is both intelligent and supple, constructing vignettes that function like time travel. These scenes successfully evoke the atmosphere of rural Devon during the 1960s.
"The Daffodil Days" stands as a remarkable debut, rewarding readers with a profound reflection on the delicacy of human connections, artistic expression, and tenacity. While the reverse timeline and the reliance on the reader's existing knowledge of Plath’s life may create a barrier for some, the novel’s emotional intelligence and narrative daring make it a significant contribution to literary historical fiction. Ultimately, “The Daffodil Days” is essential reading for fans of Plath who want to see her liberated from the 'mythology' of her own life, though those unfamiliar with her biography may need to do a little research to fully appreciate the context of these fleeting, multifaceted vignettes.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #TheDaffodilDays #NetGalley
"I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. " - Sylvia Plath
June 1, 2026
A novel about Sylvia Plath and her time at Court Green in Devon, the house she bought with Ted Hughes in 1961. Told backward in time and with each chapter focused on a different persons point of view (never Sylvia herself), it starts with the housekeeper cleaning after Sylvia has left for London , there’s a dress shop assistant, a neighbour, the midwife, the doctor and other locals, a BBC producer, the guy showing her how to use her new washing machine, some friends and Sylvia’s brother. There’s nothing explicit about what’s going on in Sylvia and Ted’s marriage so I suppose this would work better if you have some idea already about her personal life and work. Sylvia is a vivid personality for most people in the book, while the times when Ted is present he is mostly silent and tall.
I enjoyed this and strangely it becomes more poignant as you continue reading even as you’re moving backward seeing snapshots of her life till the final chapter which is from Ted’s point of view before they’ve bought the house. Beautifully done.
I enjoyed this and strangely it becomes more poignant as you continue reading even as you’re moving backward seeing snapshots of her life till the final chapter which is from Ted’s point of view before they’ve bought the house. Beautifully done.
May 19, 2026
Well, here’s another conflicted review. Do I review Helen Bain’s The Daffodil Days as a collection of short stories about people on the periphery of Sylvia Plath’s life or do I review it as a short story collection set in the 1960s? I think it works better if I take the second perspective but of course it’s been marketed under the first. So...
For future readers I thought I would list the protagonists (ie not Sylvia) in all sixteen chapters. I think that gives a clearer view of what the reading experience will be like and you can decide from there. And yes, like other readers I found the timeline with the later dates first and older dates at the end confusing. I didn’t think I would. No worries! I can deal with that. But when you are trying to put an event into context with an earlier one, it is tricky when you haven’t as yet read the earlier event. Yes, I know. You have to think about that, right?
Here’s the chapters by date as they appear in the book:
13 December 1962. Nancy Axworthy, a cleaner
21 November, 1962. Clarissa Roche, a friend
1 November, 1962. Jenny, a sales assistant
23 October, 1962. Dr Webb
21 September, 1962, Miss Redwood, horse-riding instructor
30 August, 1962, Marvin Kane, friend of Sylvia’s and Ted’s
28 July, 1962, Winifred Davies, beekeeper and midwife
26 June, 1962, Stella, a broadcaster with World of Books
8 June, 1962, Al Alvarez, poet, novelist, essayist and critic
12 May 1962, Percy Key, a neighbour
12 April 1962, Bill, a bellringer
31 December, 1962, Mary, a resident of North Tawton
18 October, 1962, a nameless washing machine specialist
12 September, 1961, Warren Plath, Sylvia’s brother
28 July, 1961, John, a land agent
13 July, 1961, a nameless couple but presumably Ted and Sylvia.
In the list above the people with full names are real people (including the doctor) and those with just first names (or Miss and a surname) are fictional. Correct me if I’m wrong but I did consult both Letters Home and the Journals of Sylvia Plath. (I can be a bit pedantic at times).
Yes, we do catch glimpses of Sylvia’s fragile personality but really, the chapters I enjoyed the most are the ones that centred on characters/real people that I found myself fascinated with. I loved the insights into their mid-century lives. And I will quote from the chapters that really spoke to me and gave me a sense of who these people were:
Nancy (about Sylvia):
“She tires of things, that’s it. Decks this house out in red and twelve months later says she prefers blue. Not everyone has that luxury. Cast off your life like a big red coat that’s suddenly got too heavy and fly off to London with a baby under each arm. It makes Nancy so frustrated she can hardly think. Women can’t do that...”
Dr Webb (about Nigeria):
“The prejudice against medicine is disappearing over there quite rapidly, even in the remoter communities. Sometimes he thinks it’s worse here. In Africa he was always greeted with pleasure – even gratitude. In England there’s a grudging respect for his education but it sits alongside a creed that if the patient doesn’t get cured, the doctor must be at fault.”
Miss Redwood (about her war service): I could read a whole novel about her.
“Funny, how something could bind you but also make everything pin-sharp. It was the heat, and it was the war, and it was being twenty years old, and in the end you can’t separate these things out. The burning light, the high white blocks of the buildings, the way the heat struck you whenever you went outside, and being whirled from party to party, learning never to ask about the fellows who didn’t turn up one evening...”
Marvin (about a stay with the Hughes):
“He remembers sitting around the big round table in the kitchen working his way through each meal like some kind of interminable test, stuck between Kathy’s nervous prattle and Sylvia’s deathly silence, trying to remember what he’d said about lunch so that his praise for supper didn’t outdo it. (Kathy his wife cooked lunch every day and Sylvia supper). All he could think about was: where the hell is Ted?”
Stella:
“All the men are hanging around, half-entranced, half-angry. There’s tension in the air, as if they’re waiting for something to happen and at any moment it will crack, like a thunderstorm breaking the heat. They all troop inside. Stella tips the last of her drink into her mouth. She feels empty as paper.”
Al (in conversation with Sylvia):
“This reminds him of something, He smiles at Sylvia and says, I liked Finisterre very much indeed.
I’m glad, she says.
It should go in soon, he says. I’ve got a bit of a log-jam at the moment. I’ll let you know, of course, when it does.
I’ve got a couple more, she says, pouring our coffee. I’ll send them next week.
She’s always looking ahead. When each submission arrives on his desk it will be with a stamped, self-addressed envelope in that round, clean hand, the accompanying note as polite and professional as if they barely knew each other.”
Washing machine specialist:
“There’s comfort in repetition: you can build a life on it. That’s the secret, you see -or one of them – doing the same thing over and over, and somehow (although he doesn’t know how), it’s better than doing lots of different things. It’s like putting something together inside you piece by piece.”
I won’t quote from the last chapter but will say I was quite affected by it and when I initially realised the point of view, I wasn’t expecting to be. This is an incredibly talented debut with Bain creating or depicting these 16 very different people with a skill that I am in awe of. I can’t wait to read what she writes next. Four and a half stars.
For future readers I thought I would list the protagonists (ie not Sylvia) in all sixteen chapters. I think that gives a clearer view of what the reading experience will be like and you can decide from there. And yes, like other readers I found the timeline with the later dates first and older dates at the end confusing. I didn’t think I would. No worries! I can deal with that. But when you are trying to put an event into context with an earlier one, it is tricky when you haven’t as yet read the earlier event. Yes, I know. You have to think about that, right?
Here’s the chapters by date as they appear in the book:
13 December 1962. Nancy Axworthy, a cleaner
21 November, 1962. Clarissa Roche, a friend
1 November, 1962. Jenny, a sales assistant
23 October, 1962. Dr Webb
21 September, 1962, Miss Redwood, horse-riding instructor
30 August, 1962, Marvin Kane, friend of Sylvia’s and Ted’s
28 July, 1962, Winifred Davies, beekeeper and midwife
26 June, 1962, Stella, a broadcaster with World of Books
8 June, 1962, Al Alvarez, poet, novelist, essayist and critic
12 May 1962, Percy Key, a neighbour
12 April 1962, Bill, a bellringer
31 December, 1962, Mary, a resident of North Tawton
18 October, 1962, a nameless washing machine specialist
12 September, 1961, Warren Plath, Sylvia’s brother
28 July, 1961, John, a land agent
13 July, 1961, a nameless couple but presumably Ted and Sylvia.
In the list above the people with full names are real people (including the doctor) and those with just first names (or Miss and a surname) are fictional. Correct me if I’m wrong but I did consult both Letters Home and the Journals of Sylvia Plath. (I can be a bit pedantic at times).
Yes, we do catch glimpses of Sylvia’s fragile personality but really, the chapters I enjoyed the most are the ones that centred on characters/real people that I found myself fascinated with. I loved the insights into their mid-century lives. And I will quote from the chapters that really spoke to me and gave me a sense of who these people were:
Nancy (about Sylvia):
“She tires of things, that’s it. Decks this house out in red and twelve months later says she prefers blue. Not everyone has that luxury. Cast off your life like a big red coat that’s suddenly got too heavy and fly off to London with a baby under each arm. It makes Nancy so frustrated she can hardly think. Women can’t do that...”
Dr Webb (about Nigeria):
“The prejudice against medicine is disappearing over there quite rapidly, even in the remoter communities. Sometimes he thinks it’s worse here. In Africa he was always greeted with pleasure – even gratitude. In England there’s a grudging respect for his education but it sits alongside a creed that if the patient doesn’t get cured, the doctor must be at fault.”
Miss Redwood (about her war service): I could read a whole novel about her.
“Funny, how something could bind you but also make everything pin-sharp. It was the heat, and it was the war, and it was being twenty years old, and in the end you can’t separate these things out. The burning light, the high white blocks of the buildings, the way the heat struck you whenever you went outside, and being whirled from party to party, learning never to ask about the fellows who didn’t turn up one evening...”
Marvin (about a stay with the Hughes):
“He remembers sitting around the big round table in the kitchen working his way through each meal like some kind of interminable test, stuck between Kathy’s nervous prattle and Sylvia’s deathly silence, trying to remember what he’d said about lunch so that his praise for supper didn’t outdo it. (Kathy his wife cooked lunch every day and Sylvia supper). All he could think about was: where the hell is Ted?”
Stella:
“All the men are hanging around, half-entranced, half-angry. There’s tension in the air, as if they’re waiting for something to happen and at any moment it will crack, like a thunderstorm breaking the heat. They all troop inside. Stella tips the last of her drink into her mouth. She feels empty as paper.”
Al (in conversation with Sylvia):
“This reminds him of something, He smiles at Sylvia and says, I liked Finisterre very much indeed.
I’m glad, she says.
It should go in soon, he says. I’ve got a bit of a log-jam at the moment. I’ll let you know, of course, when it does.
I’ve got a couple more, she says, pouring our coffee. I’ll send them next week.
She’s always looking ahead. When each submission arrives on his desk it will be with a stamped, self-addressed envelope in that round, clean hand, the accompanying note as polite and professional as if they barely knew each other.”
Washing machine specialist:
“There’s comfort in repetition: you can build a life on it. That’s the secret, you see -or one of them – doing the same thing over and over, and somehow (although he doesn’t know how), it’s better than doing lots of different things. It’s like putting something together inside you piece by piece.”
I won’t quote from the last chapter but will say I was quite affected by it and when I initially realised the point of view, I wasn’t expecting to be. This is an incredibly talented debut with Bain creating or depicting these 16 very different people with a skill that I am in awe of. I can’t wait to read what she writes next. Four and a half stars.
July 17, 2026
My Shelf Awareness review: Helen Bain's remarkable debut novel builds a slantwise biographical portrait of Sylvia Plath through her interactions with friends and acquaintances in the last years of her life.
Like linked short stories, the 16 chapters adopt the points-of-view of various secondary characters (e.g., Plath's housekeeper, riding teacher, and brother), but the kernel of each is an encounter with Plath or a memory that illuminates her personality and state of mind. Writer Al Alvarez visits her tranquil southwest England home and comments on her development as a poet. Dr. Webb fears for her mental health when she cuts her thumb slicing onions. Even fleeting small-town connections--with church-bell ringers, tile layers, and a washing-machine salesman--are opportunities for close third-person observation. Plath comes across as stubborn and assertive ("all or nothing," her midwife describes her) yet shaky; she irks some and inspires compassion and protectiveness in others. Exchanges also reveal the social realities of 1961-62: a dress-shop salesgirl admires Plath's impulsive independence; a BBC staffer's unplanned pregnancy echoes Plath's ambivalence about motherhood.
The vignettes proceed backward through the book's 17-month span: a determined metaphorical move from resignation to optimism. The focus is therefore not on the end of Plath's life but on the full flow of her genius. Her garden's profuse daffodils symbolize beauty and productiveness--and the promise of a final spring that never came. Bain's refined prose, reminiscent of Tessa Hadley's and Andrew Miller's works, burnishes a skillfully structured, multiperspective story that reminds readers how much Plath's literary brilliance has been missed. (4.5)
(Posted with permission from Shelf Awareness.)
Like linked short stories, the 16 chapters adopt the points-of-view of various secondary characters (e.g., Plath's housekeeper, riding teacher, and brother), but the kernel of each is an encounter with Plath or a memory that illuminates her personality and state of mind. Writer Al Alvarez visits her tranquil southwest England home and comments on her development as a poet. Dr. Webb fears for her mental health when she cuts her thumb slicing onions. Even fleeting small-town connections--with church-bell ringers, tile layers, and a washing-machine salesman--are opportunities for close third-person observation. Plath comes across as stubborn and assertive ("all or nothing," her midwife describes her) yet shaky; she irks some and inspires compassion and protectiveness in others. Exchanges also reveal the social realities of 1961-62: a dress-shop salesgirl admires Plath's impulsive independence; a BBC staffer's unplanned pregnancy echoes Plath's ambivalence about motherhood.
The vignettes proceed backward through the book's 17-month span: a determined metaphorical move from resignation to optimism. The focus is therefore not on the end of Plath's life but on the full flow of her genius. Her garden's profuse daffodils symbolize beauty and productiveness--and the promise of a final spring that never came. Bain's refined prose, reminiscent of Tessa Hadley's and Andrew Miller's works, burnishes a skillfully structured, multiperspective story that reminds readers how much Plath's literary brilliance has been missed. (4.5)
(Posted with permission from Shelf Awareness.)
March 31, 2026
The Daffodil Days by Helen Bain was a really interesting book. It’s not until the opening page that you might realise it is a novel about poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. While I am of course aware of this very famous couple, I didn’t have a lot of knowledge of the details of their lives. I think this is why I found this an engaging read as the story was not particularly known to me.
What strikes you at the start is that the contents page starts at December 1962 and works backwards until July 1961. The story begins with Sylvia Plath leaving her country home Court Green and ends around the time of the couples first visit to view the house. What was equally fascinating to me was that each chapter is told not from Sylvia's perspective but from that of a person near to her – a doctor, a midwife, a real estate agent, a young women working in a boutique, her brother. But Sylvia features in each chapter and through the view of outsiders her personality and story come to life in little bursts.
The moving backwards in time approach meant that you are given little insights about the state of Plath and Hughes relationship in such a unique way. Each chapter references something that happens earlier but appears later. I honestly found this such a lovely way to experience the story unfolding.
I also loved the very Englishness of the story and writing. It is a lovely evocation of post war England both London and more importantly the countryside. It made me think of Benjamin Myers The Offing which had an equally lovely tone – of stoic interiority, quaint village life and the beauty of nature. Give me more 20th century English country life!
I’m not quite sure what the author’s motivation was in writing it as it essentially tells a well know story of Plath’s life and if you are more familiar with the couple you might not have found this as compelling as I did. But I thought it was an incredibly subtle way of breathing life into a real life story. I really enjoyed the reading experience. Big tick from me.
What strikes you at the start is that the contents page starts at December 1962 and works backwards until July 1961. The story begins with Sylvia Plath leaving her country home Court Green and ends around the time of the couples first visit to view the house. What was equally fascinating to me was that each chapter is told not from Sylvia's perspective but from that of a person near to her – a doctor, a midwife, a real estate agent, a young women working in a boutique, her brother. But Sylvia features in each chapter and through the view of outsiders her personality and story come to life in little bursts.
The moving backwards in time approach meant that you are given little insights about the state of Plath and Hughes relationship in such a unique way. Each chapter references something that happens earlier but appears later. I honestly found this such a lovely way to experience the story unfolding.
I also loved the very Englishness of the story and writing. It is a lovely evocation of post war England both London and more importantly the countryside. It made me think of Benjamin Myers The Offing which had an equally lovely tone – of stoic interiority, quaint village life and the beauty of nature. Give me more 20th century English country life!
I’m not quite sure what the author’s motivation was in writing it as it essentially tells a well know story of Plath’s life and if you are more familiar with the couple you might not have found this as compelling as I did. But I thought it was an incredibly subtle way of breathing life into a real life story. I really enjoyed the reading experience. Big tick from me.
February 22, 2026
I did not finish but read about 43% of this title. I do think the writer’s style is good and the concept is great. But there are some a continuity errors.
Additionally, some chapters are stronger than others. The voice of certain characters are crisper than others.
I love Sylvia Plath so this title intrigued me, However at some points it feels like the author doesn’t like Plath. She gives her flaws to humanize her, but there is a line where it starts to feel disrespectful.
Additionally, some chapters are stronger than others. The voice of certain characters are crisper than others.
I love Sylvia Plath so this title intrigued me, However at some points it feels like the author doesn’t like Plath. She gives her flaws to humanize her, but there is a line where it starts to feel disrespectful.
Read
April 12, 2026This is an intriguing account of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes life in North Devon. We see the characters through the eyes of the villagers and people who knew them. Some of these vignettes are fascinating and enlightening. The lady in the dress shop. The Bendix washing machine man. The lady who cleans the house and sees this couple. Some felt too detailed. I felt there was too much detail about bell ringing for example. Obviously well researched but maybe too detailed in delivery.
The biggest issue for me was the author choosing to write this account backwards in time. Throughout the book I felt this meant I was missing some of the references. As a result I am about to reread this book from the last chapter to the first. Hopefully this will allow me to pick up more of the references that I missed.
This book has been researched and written with care. It is a huge achievement. I just feel some of the stylistic decisions haven't quite worked. However this book has made me want to read more about both poets and more of their poetry. I feel like Alice by the rabbit hole, ready to dive in.
The biggest issue for me was the author choosing to write this account backwards in time. Throughout the book I felt this meant I was missing some of the references. As a result I am about to reread this book from the last chapter to the first. Hopefully this will allow me to pick up more of the references that I missed.
This book has been researched and written with care. It is a huge achievement. I just feel some of the stylistic decisions haven't quite worked. However this book has made me want to read more about both poets and more of their poetry. I feel like Alice by the rabbit hole, ready to dive in.
August 19, 2026
I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. The book recounts Sylvia Plath's last year (approx) of life, which happened to be in a thatched-roof cottage in North Tawton, Devon. Every chapter is from the perspective of a villager or friend who encounters Plath in some way or other so it's kind of like every chapter is a short story with new background information and new characters. It was a lot to start over every chapter and I didn't feel like it was a very cohesive story as a result.
August 28, 2026
Sylvia Plath is observed in the last year of her life by a disparate group of people, including her cleaning lady, her doctor, a washing machine installer, a church bell ringer and some country neighbours. Even slightly offstage, she is the indisputable star of the show.
July 11, 2026
This book covers eighteen months in the life of Sylvia Plath just before she killed herself. It is mostly set in Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath’s house in Devon and is told from the perspective of people Plath knew or met, some of them are real people, some of them are fictional characters. Each chapter focuses on a different person. Ted Hughes barely figures in the book, except as a mostly silent presence, until the final chapter. The book is written in reverse. It starts in December 1962 and ends in July 1961. The problem with the book is that the people described in the book mostly aren’t that interesting. And when they are interesting, like Al Alvarez, the conversation between him and Plath is deadly dull.
The book opens with Nancy, “the char”, cleaning the Devon house after Sylvia has moved out. Reading about somebody doing some mopping and dusting, essential jobs though they are, is never going make the heart flutter or the brain whirr. Other delights in the book include Sylvia Plath going into a shop to buy a dress, looking at lots of pictures of dresses and not buying anything. And, thank goodness, even though the book is told in reverse, the author finds a way of letting us know in a subsequent chapter that Plath did eventually find a camel jacket and skirt in Exeter. We were on tenterhooks otherwise. We discover that Sylvia Plath’s Doctor had lived in Nigeria and had rather liked it. There is a chapter in which Sylvia has a riding lesson. With her instructor, she rides up a hill and then comes down again. The chapter about the visit of the Bendix engineer to show Sylvia how to use her washing machine is a must read for all fans of old-fashioned domestic appliances. I know you’re out there, don’t be shy. Oh, and for that extra bit of detail you didn’t need, the fictional engineer worked in Plymouth during the war and now he likes driving his Hillman Imp over Dartmoor. Fascinating.
In Bain’s imagined account of North Tawton in the early 1960s, people are already looking forward to the Hunt Ball in March, when they are at a New Year’s Eve party. The ball didn’t disappoint as there is a fight, which the bellringers are still talking about in April. Indeed, the ironmonger’s life is so devoid of incident that he is even discussing the ball with his customers in June.
There are sentences, which appear to make no sense, and others that seem deliberately arcane: for instance, “Cyril’s got a bleeding sally, his shoulders are covered in fluff. Looks like he’s headed for a Jubilee float.” Helen Bain often moves the action between different times and places without giving you a clue that she is doing it, leaving the reader a bit bewildered. And she doesn’t use speech marks, which can also be a bit confusing. Punctuation does have its uses, Helen, it’s not just for show.
I have no idea what the Guardian reviewer was thinking when she heaped so much praise on this book, it’s a stinker.
The book opens with Nancy, “the char”, cleaning the Devon house after Sylvia has moved out. Reading about somebody doing some mopping and dusting, essential jobs though they are, is never going make the heart flutter or the brain whirr. Other delights in the book include Sylvia Plath going into a shop to buy a dress, looking at lots of pictures of dresses and not buying anything. And, thank goodness, even though the book is told in reverse, the author finds a way of letting us know in a subsequent chapter that Plath did eventually find a camel jacket and skirt in Exeter. We were on tenterhooks otherwise. We discover that Sylvia Plath’s Doctor had lived in Nigeria and had rather liked it. There is a chapter in which Sylvia has a riding lesson. With her instructor, she rides up a hill and then comes down again. The chapter about the visit of the Bendix engineer to show Sylvia how to use her washing machine is a must read for all fans of old-fashioned domestic appliances. I know you’re out there, don’t be shy. Oh, and for that extra bit of detail you didn’t need, the fictional engineer worked in Plymouth during the war and now he likes driving his Hillman Imp over Dartmoor. Fascinating.
In Bain’s imagined account of North Tawton in the early 1960s, people are already looking forward to the Hunt Ball in March, when they are at a New Year’s Eve party. The ball didn’t disappoint as there is a fight, which the bellringers are still talking about in April. Indeed, the ironmonger’s life is so devoid of incident that he is even discussing the ball with his customers in June.
There are sentences, which appear to make no sense, and others that seem deliberately arcane: for instance, “Cyril’s got a bleeding sally, his shoulders are covered in fluff. Looks like he’s headed for a Jubilee float.” Helen Bain often moves the action between different times and places without giving you a clue that she is doing it, leaving the reader a bit bewildered. And she doesn’t use speech marks, which can also be a bit confusing. Punctuation does have its uses, Helen, it’s not just for show.
I have no idea what the Guardian reviewer was thinking when she heaped so much praise on this book, it’s a stinker.
August 9, 2026
More like a series of interconnected character portraits or short stories than a novel. Fittingly poetic writing. Well-done, but a little boring for me.
July 13, 2026
It's hard to write a novel, and I hate dismissing writers' work. But this was such a disappointment. The book's premise was great: an exploration of the brief period poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes spent living in a small Devon town in the early 1960s. Helen Bain has done her research: no aspect of Sixties' British life is left unexamined, from trout fishing to bell ringing, Bendix washing machines and the difficulty of dressing fashionably so far from London (and Exeter). The setting and research reminded me of Andrew Miller's The Land in Winter - but there the similarity ended. Bain has chosen to tell the story backwards, so the book opens with the cleaning lady closing up the house, and closes with Sylvia and Ted on holiday in France, over a year earlier. While poignant, this robs the narrative of any propulsion. Each chapter focuses on a different character who meets the couple during their stay, but these remain as fragments, although some might work as short stories. Another difficulty is the unclear dialogue - with no speech marks and shifting viewpoints it's hard to follow. Perhaps Bain was trying to say, we know all there is to know about this couple - what more do you want? And if you're a Plath scholar (I'm not) the short pieces might be more rewarding. Bain's approach is 'novel' in the true sense of the word. But it's not a story. And it's not about Sylvia and Ted.
April 8, 2026
I feel like I’ve been catfished by the blurb. I wanted to read a book about Plath not a book about the people around her!
Read
August 29, 2026In the book, The Daffodil Days, each chapter is narrated from the point of view of local residents and by their friends and relatives. Each chapter describes the interactions with the writers, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, when they lived in a small Devonshire Village in 1962. I loved the descriptions by the local bell-ringers, the town doctor, a young saleswoman in a boutique dress shop, locals at a New Year’s Eve Party, the local washing machine salesman, and by Plath’s mother and brother. The book uses reverse chronology, it is told backwards. The book opens in December 1961 and goes backwards to July 1961.
September 17, 2026
Beautifully written
Interweaving of rural life and Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes characters & relationship
Poignant
Needed to read chapter 1 again after finishing - as each chapter is in a backward timeline
Interweaving of rural life and Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes characters & relationship
Poignant
Needed to read chapter 1 again after finishing - as each chapter is in a backward timeline
April 17, 2026
It’s extremely well written, but at the end of the day it reads like fan fiction. The Sylvia in the book seems to overshare with everyone to a ridiculous degree, largely so that the reader can recognise details from her life from whichever biography they’ve read. Surely she wouldn’t be telling people she’s just met so many intimate details. She may have written them in her journals or shared them in letters with people she knew extremely well—but not with strangers. Unless that trait somehow escaped me.
Some descriptions of the characters and their actions—when Sylvia isn’t present—are interesting and stand on their own, like the BBC producer; others absolutely do not, like the realtor or the woman at the New Year’s party. There’s also an attempt to introduce more internal conflict within the town, but the thread is left loose, which makes me wonder why it was introduced in the first place.
The narrative is in the third person but shifts perspective to whichever character is interacting with Sylvia in a given chapter. However, the level of detail they notice often feels excessive, almost overworked—surely they’re not all poets or psychoanalysts.
I suppose we all have our own ideas of who Sylvia Plath was. This is one interpretation; to me, it’s not a convincing one. The premise of the book is great, but the execution falls short. What is its purpose? We never really see what made Devon—or the people she met there—so special to Sylvia, as the epigraph would suggest. It would be far more interesting to see them from her perspective, though that, I suppose, would be yet another interpretation of who Sylvia Plath was.
Some descriptions of the characters and their actions—when Sylvia isn’t present—are interesting and stand on their own, like the BBC producer; others absolutely do not, like the realtor or the woman at the New Year’s party. There’s also an attempt to introduce more internal conflict within the town, but the thread is left loose, which makes me wonder why it was introduced in the first place.
The narrative is in the third person but shifts perspective to whichever character is interacting with Sylvia in a given chapter. However, the level of detail they notice often feels excessive, almost overworked—surely they’re not all poets or psychoanalysts.
I suppose we all have our own ideas of who Sylvia Plath was. This is one interpretation; to me, it’s not a convincing one. The premise of the book is great, but the execution falls short. What is its purpose? We never really see what made Devon—or the people she met there—so special to Sylvia, as the epigraph would suggest. It would be far more interesting to see them from her perspective, though that, I suppose, would be yet another interpretation of who Sylvia Plath was.
July 4, 2026
A book that proves you can still know how it all ends, and even work backwards, chapter-by-chapter, and still feel the suspense or, rather, the reverse suspense of wondering just how things will affect how you know things turn out; how other lives impinge on those whose stories you know; how, perhaps, it could have turned out differently. I’ll admit it took a couple of chapter to get into, but once there, the world of Ted and Silvia and their bucolic dreams, their sophisticated lives rubbing up against a close-knit, rural community was as vivid as their respective poetry.
August 17, 2026
I am a big Sylvia Plath fan so was very excited for this one, but it fell a little flat for me. I thought the premise of going back in time starting a few months before her death was very interesting, and I enjoyed how more information about Sylvia’s mannerisms and personality was revealed throughout. This made some earlier chapters make sense as the later chapters explained context from the past, which is the opposite of the chronology you typically see in a novel. That aspect was very unique to me!
However, I didn’t sense a very focused vision in the writing and felt that it was pretty sidetracked at times, making it hard to stay engaged. Unfortunately don’t see this book being very memorable for me, but I think the writing style just didn’t draw me in very well
However, I didn’t sense a very focused vision in the writing and felt that it was pretty sidetracked at times, making it hard to stay engaged. Unfortunately don’t see this book being very memorable for me, but I think the writing style just didn’t draw me in very well
Did Not Finish
July 16, 2026I didn’t get far enough to give it a rating. I just got a little ways in and realized it was nothing like I expected and I just couldn’t get myself to keep going. It might be an excellent book. I just didn’t want to read it once I started.
August 16, 2026
Probably only for real Sylvia Plath fans…if you don’t already have a good understanding of Plath’s biography, especially the period just before her death, much of this will be pretty murky.
August 31, 2026
Boring short story collection disguised as a novel
Did Not Finish
September 14, 2026Uncompelling, ho-hum paragraphs and paragraphs about cleaning house that did not interest me enough to keep me engaged.
September 10, 2026
Interesting and so well written. Some of the British conversations were had to follow, and I should probably read again, I'm sure there's a lot I missed. Love reading and thinking about Sylvia Plath.
June 15, 2026
Thank you Simon Audio and Scribner for the gifted books! I tandem listened/read this in one afternoon and found it to be a relaxing novel about the reimagined last year of Sylvia Plath’s life. She was a young mother when she passed away, but her poetry lives on. I enjoyed reading about her interactions with society in the English countryside and how her strong yet conflicted feminist views inspired her writing. Even though this was set in the 1960s, it felt very modern describing society norms and experiences. This book makes me want to learn more about the life of Sylvia Plath.
“Here they can be the woman they'd always wanted to be, if life hadn't got in the way.”
“Here they can be the woman they'd always wanted to be, if life hadn't got in the way.”
July 28, 2026
I almost stopped with this one, because it wasn’t what I was expecting. But then I kinda liked one of the stories anyway, so I kept going. For a while that is, until I found myself not really being that keen on picking the book up again.
This is an interesting way to present Sylvia Plath’s final days, told backwards in time. The stories are actually more about other people, with her just kind of popping in and out of most of them, while being more of a solid presence in others. Still, if you are looking for a real in depth look at her last days, don’t expect to really get that here. In some cases, I felt like if you weren’t told the Sylvia here was Sylvia Plath (especially if you don’t know a lot about her, like me), the person in the stories could have really been anyone. Or maybe that's just me, because the stories were nicely written if you were even just looking for some short stories in general, if that makes sense.
This is an interesting way to present Sylvia Plath’s final days, told backwards in time. The stories are actually more about other people, with her just kind of popping in and out of most of them, while being more of a solid presence in others. Still, if you are looking for a real in depth look at her last days, don’t expect to really get that here. In some cases, I felt like if you weren’t told the Sylvia here was Sylvia Plath (especially if you don’t know a lot about her, like me), the person in the stories could have really been anyone. Or maybe that's just me, because the stories were nicely written if you were even just looking for some short stories in general, if that makes sense.
April 14, 2026
4.5 stars
June 14, 2026
Thank you to Scribner Books for sending me a copy of this book. I was intrigued by the cover, and I really wanted to read more background on Sylvia Plath, but I had to DNF this book partway through. The characters seem peripherally connected to Sylvia Plath, whom I only knew was the Sylvia they were talking about because I read the blurb. The chapters go on at great length, and in much detail about characters who may or may not have been in Sylvia's life. The voice also seems to change with the narration of each chapter, so that I felt a bit of whiplash going into each chapter. I think this was a great undertaking, but it fell a little short of the mark.
April 12, 2026
What Olga Tokarczuk calls a 'constellation novel' or episodic, or mosaic, allows an attempt at wholeness of story, or event through a series of related episodes with a same theme, or character, or place. The Daffodil Days gives us glimpses of Sylvia Plath through her interactions with an array of characters either local to North Tawnton or fellow poets, editors, family, all orbiting Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. These encounters present a version of Plath, which varies depending on that person's ability to read her. The point being unknowability. Hughes is off to the side save in one episode where he is aware of her as fierce and bright, as well as fragile and unstable. Of course, this is nothing new.
There will always be traps when writing about Plath which this account deftly avoids. It is an original way to look at that year 61/62 where the cloud of Plath’s future hangs over us. I like that the author removed trace of that inevitability from her prose. Similarly, I admired the neutrality of the text with regard to the Hughes-Plath blame debacle. The relief I felt at being preserved against poetic musings, critical analyses or mention of the poet’s craft was also immense.
Bain manages to be both clinical and lyrical which is no mean feat. Her attention to detail and ability to depict the landscape through the seasons made for a sensorily rich read. The forays into fly fishing, rock-climbing, bee-keeping, bell ringing, women’s fashion, and the installation of a Bendix washing machine were rewarding in and of themselves.
I was impressed with Bain’s rendering of Plath, the little fragments of her that build her into someone who impressed many with her stature, her apparent robustness, her single-mindedness and ability to focus on the task at hand, her intensity, her communion with Hughes, held up against the instability, the mercurial swing if she felt exposed, her vampiric interest in other people’s stories, and her perceived secondariness within the literary community or among Hughes’s friends.
Perhaps the structure was a conceit? I am unsure what it revealed by being presented to us in reverse order but it does underscore the power of constellation writing where meaning is not dependent on the order. What it did achieve was an impulse to return to earlier chapters to remind myself of the relevance of certain events mentioned later in the novel. And I liked it so much, I was happy to start again.
There will always be traps when writing about Plath which this account deftly avoids. It is an original way to look at that year 61/62 where the cloud of Plath’s future hangs over us. I like that the author removed trace of that inevitability from her prose. Similarly, I admired the neutrality of the text with regard to the Hughes-Plath blame debacle. The relief I felt at being preserved against poetic musings, critical analyses or mention of the poet’s craft was also immense.
Bain manages to be both clinical and lyrical which is no mean feat. Her attention to detail and ability to depict the landscape through the seasons made for a sensorily rich read. The forays into fly fishing, rock-climbing, bee-keeping, bell ringing, women’s fashion, and the installation of a Bendix washing machine were rewarding in and of themselves.
I was impressed with Bain’s rendering of Plath, the little fragments of her that build her into someone who impressed many with her stature, her apparent robustness, her single-mindedness and ability to focus on the task at hand, her intensity, her communion with Hughes, held up against the instability, the mercurial swing if she felt exposed, her vampiric interest in other people’s stories, and her perceived secondariness within the literary community or among Hughes’s friends.
Perhaps the structure was a conceit? I am unsure what it revealed by being presented to us in reverse order but it does underscore the power of constellation writing where meaning is not dependent on the order. What it did achieve was an impulse to return to earlier chapters to remind myself of the relevance of certain events mentioned later in the novel. And I liked it so much, I was happy to start again.
Read
May 16, 2026Oh, I loved this one! Helen Bain’s debut novel traces the last 18 months of Sylvia Plath’s and Ted Hughes’ marriage, the period they spent in Court Green, a thatch-roofed house in North Tawton, a village near Dartmoor in Devon.
It’s not a straight biographical story though. We move backwards through time, and each chapter - a precise dated moment - is told from the perspective of a different figure. We begin with “December 1962 | Nancy Axworthy closes up the house”, as Nancy their charlady sets the house to order after Sylvia and the two children return to London — Plath will commit suicide in six weeks. We move back —Thursday 1 November, a boutique in Chagford that Plath visits searching for a dress to wear to London, where she is served by Jenny, a local farm girl who dreams of London herself, and emergent 60s fashion, and freedom. October 1962, a doctor’s surgery, where Sylvia’s thumb is stitched back together after she slices the top off. All the way back to July 1961 where a land agent tours the couple through the house, itching all the time to finish his day so he can go fly-fishing.
All the way through, Plath is experienced by others - friends and strangers alike - as a vivid, forceful, disruptive presence. Hughes stays slightly out of view, his voice barely heard. And yet the book is not *about* the two poets so much as it travels *alongside* them. We encounter the couple as they colour the lives of those around them, be that a longstanding friendship or a one-off encounter.
Moving backwards through time means the book is not propelled by the unwinding of the marriage and the approaching death of Plath. As a reading experience the clues run backwards: a messy houseguest in the first chapter comes in to fuller view halfway through the book; the saga of the cement floor is recounted repeatedly, then plays out. As a result the book gains in texture what it loses in urgency.
Bain’s research is incredible, and generally lightly worn — from the local bell ringers practicing the Queen’s Peal to a visiting Bendix rep who teaches Plath how to use her new washing machine. Tonally, I was reminded of Andrew Miller’s “The Land in Winter”; this book has the same calm confidence, the introspection, the willingness to build out tactile and visual detail. It’s perhaps not perfect but it’s incredibly impressive and I think will land in my top 5 for the year.
It’s not a straight biographical story though. We move backwards through time, and each chapter - a precise dated moment - is told from the perspective of a different figure. We begin with “December 1962 | Nancy Axworthy closes up the house”, as Nancy their charlady sets the house to order after Sylvia and the two children return to London — Plath will commit suicide in six weeks. We move back —Thursday 1 November, a boutique in Chagford that Plath visits searching for a dress to wear to London, where she is served by Jenny, a local farm girl who dreams of London herself, and emergent 60s fashion, and freedom. October 1962, a doctor’s surgery, where Sylvia’s thumb is stitched back together after she slices the top off. All the way back to July 1961 where a land agent tours the couple through the house, itching all the time to finish his day so he can go fly-fishing.
All the way through, Plath is experienced by others - friends and strangers alike - as a vivid, forceful, disruptive presence. Hughes stays slightly out of view, his voice barely heard. And yet the book is not *about* the two poets so much as it travels *alongside* them. We encounter the couple as they colour the lives of those around them, be that a longstanding friendship or a one-off encounter.
Moving backwards through time means the book is not propelled by the unwinding of the marriage and the approaching death of Plath. As a reading experience the clues run backwards: a messy houseguest in the first chapter comes in to fuller view halfway through the book; the saga of the cement floor is recounted repeatedly, then plays out. As a result the book gains in texture what it loses in urgency.
Bain’s research is incredible, and generally lightly worn — from the local bell ringers practicing the Queen’s Peal to a visiting Bendix rep who teaches Plath how to use her new washing machine. Tonally, I was reminded of Andrew Miller’s “The Land in Winter”; this book has the same calm confidence, the introspection, the willingness to build out tactile and visual detail. It’s perhaps not perfect but it’s incredibly impressive and I think will land in my top 5 for the year.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews