Ted Hughes: The Unauthorised Life

"If poetry is humanity’s answer to death, then the literary feud may be the poet’s answer. One feud that may never die is between the acolytes of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath: Plath’s blame him for her suicide, while Hughes’ blame mental illness. Jonathan Bate’s new biography stokes the flames, bravely taking on the literary giant, while quite wisely admitting that Plath’s suicide is absolutely at the heart of the man’s life. But Bate’s scholarship, while not quite excusing Hughes’ character flaws, does a beautiful job of marrying his subject’s life to his rigorous and important work. The book is as insightful and charismatic as the man himself — whichever side you believe yourself to be on."