Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom Audiobook By Sylvia Plath cover art

Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom

A Story

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Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom

By: Sylvia Plath
Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy
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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 of 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.

©2019 The Estate of Sylvia Plath (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Fiction Genre Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Short Stories Scary
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A very short, approachable listen. I appreciate what Sylvia Plath is getting at with this. Not world-altering, but worth it!

Why not!

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“Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom”, while not perfect, is a fascinating, intriguing read (or listen), worthy of going though a second time, to study the language and explore the allegory at work.
Written when Sylvia Plath was only 20, it’s not as concise or confident in its wording as in her later prose and poetry, as she hadn’t yet fully found her voice as a writer. Even so, it’s a rather unique and fascinating little tale.
For readers interested in Plath the person and what made her tick, this story definitely adds detail, giving a further glimpse into what was going through her head at the time, as far as conformity and the expectations of others. It also shows an unusual imagination that isn’t afraid to go a little dark to get its ideas across. The fact that Mademoiselle magazine rejected the story is no surprise. A bittersweet tale of a debutante’s ball it isn’t.
As literature it may not be to everyone’s liking, and it isn’t even particularly typical of Plath. So be careful with your expectations going into it. If you approach it in the right context, you may find it fascinating.
And as for the audiobook, the narrator is perfect.

Unusual, early gem from Sylvia Plath

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Sylvia Plath drags you along uncomfortably into realizations and leaves you ragged and raw with more queries than conclusions. It's this kind of writing that causes readers to think, think, and think again randomly in the future.

Peculiar, captivating, oddly relatable

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