Moses, Kate. Wintering, a novel of Sylvia Plath.

Random House, Anchor. 313p. c2003. 1-4000-3500-7. $13.00. SA

This novel is a fictionalized account of the last few months of the famous American poet Sylvia Plath's life. Moses has researched and studied Plath's work and life and has written a wonderfully dense and lyrical story, capturing her state of mind during the month of December 1962, two months before her suicide. Through flashback chapters, the novel concentrates on the two-year time period she and her husband, Ted Hughes, lived in a country home named Court Green where Sylvia could be an earth mother and a poet and Hughes could write. After their dream life dissolved when Hughes had an affair with an exotic woman friend, Sylvia moved to London. She set up housekeeping in W.B. Yeats' childhood home but was beset by illness, depression and isolation. In spite of this, she wrote some of her best poetry there, which was published after her death. Moses does a marvelous job of capturing her state of mind and even her poetic style. Nola Theiss, Sanibel, FL

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.