This story was not my cup of tea. I did not like the writing and the story was a little meh.
But i can see why others would like it though. It just wasn`t for me.

I really enjoy reading books about how author's interact with each other. This book did not disappoint. It was very interesting to hear about Plath more. Good read.

Told through Ted Hughes’s point of view, we are given a look into the anguish that both Sylvia and her husband experienced during their short time together. We go on an exploration of a marriage that has grown toxic through the ever growing bouts of depression, mood swings and unhinged mental illness.

A brilliantly researched, interesting and compelling read. This book is a heart breaking look at depression and mental illness and its effect on the family.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for gifting this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Having followed Sylvia Plath’s story for many years, I’ve long since been interested in her husband’s perspective to gain further insight into their life. Palmen’s fictional take on the Hughes’ perspective often reads more akin to non-fiction, to the point I repeatedly had to remind myself it’s less fact than fiction. Still, although the story is beautifully, lyrically written, I had a difficult time with the concept of romanticizing their often volatile relationship, let alone Plath’s depression and subsequent suicide. I empathize with Plath as a wife and mother, caring for small children while dealing with inner turmoil.

One of the fun elements of writing fiction is the chance to explore hidden facets of a familiar story. This is especially true—although also a particular challenge—when the characters and events in the novel are real, yet the author’s perspective offers new insights on what we have assumed is a familiar, even trite, tale.

The marriage of the poet Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide in 1963, and her husband Ted Hughes (also a poet) is an example of this phenomenon. The subject of a thousand-page biography recently reviewed in the New York Times Book Review, itself the latest addition to a vast literature on the poet’s life and death, Plath has become an iconic figure. Non-scholars passed judgment on her and her husband long ago. Yet in Your Story, My Story <https://www.amazon.com/Your-Story-My-Connie-Palmen/dp/1542022401/> Connie Palmen does an exemplary job of overturning our expectations by presenting the couple’s relationship from Ted Hughes’ point of view. Moreover, she succeeds without sugar-coating Hughes’ personality. Issued in English translation just two weeks ago, this is a novel well worth seeking out. Read on to learn more about both the book and its author.

No stars for this book, only the moon
I wrote a Book Review for the Blog of the Department of Literature, King's College London
https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/english/2021/02/03/and-i-said-that-i-connie-palmens-novel-your-story-my-story/?fbclid=IwAR25Ht9DEuKzkPEVbgVpXwaHqeKt6Opf_vzMP90QnjeZIlMbJmYCU9Q0Xqw#more-2614

I’ll admit to not knowing all that much about Silvia Plath’s personal life, beyond the bare basics, before reading this book. However, now I’m hooked and am trying to learn as much as I can about her short and volatile life.

Your Story, My Story is told from the poet Ted Hughes’ point of view, describing their meeting, love affair, marriage, and life after Plath’s suicide. Usually, when we hear about Silvia Plath, Ted is blamed (at least in part) for exacerbating her depression and ultimately her death so it’s interesting to hear about it from his perspective, and think about how it must feel to have strangers talking and writing about your relationship as if they had some ownership of it.

This book is beautifully written, but it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Their relationship is sometimes as violent as it is beautiful and many of their interactions made me quite uncomfortable while others left me emotional and raw. Let’s just say the highs are high and the lows are very low. The writing itself is poetic in the extreme, and I find myself wanting to get my hands on some of Hughes’ work—I’ll admit that while I’ve read some of Plath’s work I’ve never read any of his.

While this work was originally written in Dutch (a language I unfortunately don’t read) I thought the translation was incredibly well done. Despite being only 186 pages, this is not a book you’ll rush through, instead, you’ll want to spend time with it, savor it, and then read it all over again.

Trigger warnings for physical abuse, mental illness, suicide and infidelity.

The author was able to capture the heightened emotions in this fictional account of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. This may be fictional, but there are guaranteed to be some nuggets of truth in this brilliant read!

Your Story, My Story by Connie Palmen and translated by Eileen Stevens and Anna Asbury is an excellent fictional novel depicting the relationship between Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes in the voice of Mr. Hughes in this story.

This famous relationship is well-documented, but from an outsider's or reader's view. Being able to visit inside the talented brain center of Ted Hughes (of course this is purely fictional). This story was fascinating, gripping, emotional, and like a train wreck, you wanted to grimace and look away because it was rough and you knew how it would all collapse and end, however you were too engrossed to look away.

I was enthralled from beginning to end. The translators were beyond impressive in helping create this book into a work of art in itself. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Amazon Crossing for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

This is the "love story" and about the marriage of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. He was deep into astrology, horoscopes, hypnosis, and the use of the ouija board. Connie Palmen lays blame on both of them for Plath's suicide. It showed the use of the occult in literature and the arts that dominated their lives and made me uncomfortable. It addressed suicide as a topic and its effect on everyone involved. This book was first written in Dutch and I can give it that it was well translated.

I don't know what I was thinking. If you aren't familiar with Sylvia Plath, this probably isn't the place to start. Much (too much) has been written about the relationship between Plath and Ted Hughes whose volatile relationship has captivated the imagination of some since her suicide all those years ago. Palmen has made the unusual choice to write from Ted's POV. Some will be offended by this characterization of Plath, others will dislike Hughes for his loudly voiced opinions on women. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. I put this down because I realized that I didn't need another book about this couple but others might find it illuminating.

Your Story, My Story is a beautifully written book telling of the love and marriage of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. The poets, passionately in love with each other, were together seven years. During that time we see them try to balance their intense relationship with their work (spotty failures and then ever-increasing acclaim), their own personal and family issues, as well as the births of their children. Always present was the extreme volatility and mercurial nature of Sylvia's mental illness which Hughes initially found exciting in its intenseness but later which later became a source of irritation and despair.

Palmen does an wonderful job of bringing the ins and outs of this relationship to life. The book flowed so naturally that I felt that I was a quite near witness to the torment and explosiveness of their lives. Quite an intense read!!

My thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for allowing me to read an advance copy of the novel which is due to be published 1/1/2021. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given.

A fascinating look at what might have been. Sylvia Plath's suicide is surround by a campaign to take down Ted Hughes. Here, Connie Palmen, allows Hughes to tell his side. Like both Plath and Hughes, it's heavy and rater depressing but overall, the reader can see where their love was.

I do think some of the 'umph' is lost in translation here but it's still a fabulous look at a possible story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓- 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑰𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒑 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒃 𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅.


I believe the first time I was drawn into the Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath dynamic was when I read 𝘠𝘦𝘩𝘶𝘥𝘢 𝘒𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯. I wasn’t one of those girls who grew up reading Plath, I became for more interested in her as an adult. I didn’t romanticize her depression and suicide, I felt the weight of her death as a mother with young children does, thinking it couldn’t possibly have been an act of revenge over her broken heart. Certainly, there was more going on with her mind than the devastation of infidelity, something physiological. In fact, it was while reading Anaïs Nin’s journals that I even picked up Koren’s book by chance because the bookstore didn’t have Nin’s volume and I was hungry for something good to read. Curiosity bit me, I knew very little about Assia Wevill, Plath’s rival for Ted’s affections. Since then, I have been fascinated by Ted Hughes and Plath’s entire relationship. How much can any of us really know about a couple’s love life? Do I think he is free of blame? Of course not, but neither is she a helpless victim of cruelty, though he could be cruel. Plath had her dark days, her depressions and Ted’s betrayal left her in turmoil, caring for their small children, struggling to find her feet again, humiliated. No one will ever know what was going through her mind, her very soul, when she took her life. I put a lot of weight in words, but I don’t think there are enough sentences to explain such all consuming pain, to express the ache of the mind. Certainly her final act went on to haunt Ted’s new lover but more, Ted himself and paint him as villain long after. Do I feel that was her scheme? No… maybe she hoped someone would finally rescue her from herself. Maybe she just wanted to silence the grip of suffering.

This is a fictional account of Ted’s side of the story, which won’t be popular with many hardcore Plath fans. No one wants to forgive the philanderer, there is nothing more repulsive than a loving, faithful, devoted wife and caring mother discarded for another woman, worse by someone who befriended her. It’s an old story, it’s become all too common, infidelity certainly doesn’t shock people today. It was a different time then, Sylvia was wounded, somehow both strong as steel and fragile as glass. A brilliant woman, who maybe put too much faith in her beloved. Instability and public humiliation, having your nose rubbed in your raw, festering pain and a husband who comes and goes lighting the torch of hope for reconciliation… well, it’s no wonder he made it so easy for women hate him, fans of Plath or not. She truly became the saint and he, the sinful monster.

Nature is a funny thing, in this beautifully written story, the very intensity of the fire that burned within Plath becomes for Ted the thing he later fears, one he can’t contain. The love too much for him, this man who thrived on his freedom. She scared him and seduced him at the same time, his ‘resurrected goddess’. Ted Hughes was not the cause of Sylvia’s mental health struggles, for she had attempted suicide long before he came along anymore than he could take credit for her talent, her poetry but his actions surely were a catalyst. Knowing the facts, everything that followed after Plath’s suicide, how new lover Assia followed in Plath’s footsteps… well, it makes it that much harder to think of Ted as a victim, yet wasn’t he? Weren’t they all? They were victims of passions, selfishness, and mental instability. With the carelessness of a lover’s hands upon your heart, it’s hard to not label it criminal.

How can you explain the horror of your own choices, the recklessness of your desires? I don’t think this is about excusing shameless behavior, it’s a man trying to make sense of the ruin of his betrayal. He paid for it, he pays even in death, a marked man, ever the bad guy in the story. Weren’t both he and Sylvia reacting to events true to their own natures? One just seemed to hold all the cards… we will never know what was waiting in the blind corners of their relationship. Not their biggest fan nor closest friend can speak the truth about the spoils of their fiery love, everything is just speculation. We demand nothing more than facts and attempt to make sense of the world by classifying things, and people, as good or bad- love doesn’t quite work that way. We can only play what ifs, and wonder, would Sylvia have taken her life if they reconciled? If he didn’t leave and humiliate her, abandon her in such a fragile state of mind? Who can say?

Their love was a knot, and this book serves to tighten it further, giving Hughes a voice. The end of their relationship was incomprehensible and so it will forever remain. Gorgeously written, loved it!

Publication Date: January 1, 2021

AmazonCrossing

5 "sophisticated, astute, sublime" stars !!!

Thank you to Netgalley, Amazon Crossing and the author for an ecopy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This English edition is to be released in January 2021. I also felt that the translation work by the two translators was flawless !! This book was originally published in Dutch in 2015 and won literary prizes in 2016 and 2017.

I am writing this review with puffed eyes, splotchy face, complex mixed emotions and empathy quivering. My dear partner has cradled and soothed me for the past half hour as I completed this most perfect of creations. I am sorry Ms. Palmen that I will not be able to give your superb work the review that it deserves. I will however express my sincerest emotions as I write.

Ms. Palmen has inhabited the spirit of the poet Ted Hughes as he explores his relationship with Sylvia Plath. This portrayal is rich, complex, symbiotic and empathic. The love story is explored in interpersonal depth, Jungian symbolism, psychoanalytic and philosophic musings along with song, poetry, prose and a shared history. These two lovers are entwined so closely that they become one creative, semi-divine but damaged being that both explode and implode with both angel's wings and demon's fire. They go so deep deep deep inside each other that they cannot find their way out of a garden of Eden that has become home to not one serpent but many, where the fruit trees are protected by the most lethal of poison ivys.

The prose of this novel is at times heartachingly beautiful but also at times critically jealous and for brief moments brutally banal to keep the reader afloat. The emotions of this book defy comprehension. Always mixed, always complex, mostly only semi-rational. We both admire and admonish Sylvia as we read and see her as both vain and insecure and Ted as both egotistical and misguided. They are young, they are struggling, they are brilliant, they are maligned.

This is a book where we inhabit a complex man, full of foibles, full of brilliance, full of ego but also full of love, full of care and full of intuitive wisdom. Ted loved Sylvia. Sylvia loved Ted. This book is a brilliant and compassionate interpretation of that most fragile yet everlasting bond.

I have heard of Sylvia Plath before, but I was not very familiar with her story or her (seemingly) toxic marriage/ relationship. This story is a fictional account written from the perspective of her husband, Ted Hughes. The concept of this book gripped my attention and created an interest for reading the book. You can tell that the point of view is that of a writer. This story was told in such a dramatic fashion that it would keep me reading, despite not enjoying what I am reading. (I just have a significant discomfort with reading about toxic relationships.) Overall, this is a well-written story, but it just not what I was expected. I think that I would attempt to read this at another time and see if my thoughts/feelings change.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eBook arc copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sylvia Plath, we all know her story, her struggleS with getting published and also her death. But there is always two sides to each story, and we know know about her side, sort of. We all fell into the traps of gossip, when we heard about Ted being a horrible husband and being a womanizer, but I always thought of this not being true. I had this feeling that there was more to this story.

Ted is telling us his story of how he met Sylvia, and their love, we even get a bit of his life, and his family and his special abilities. I love how he tends to do a back and forth between the present and the past between them, and the metaphors are AMAZING.

I also loved how even when friends and family told him that Sylvia is not the one for him, she will ruin his name, he knew it but he still stuck around, Sylvia was highly imbalanced, she had mental issues, and even her own mother knew, Sylvia even knew herself, this book had me on the edge of my seat, I actually admire Ted even more now. He really composed himself against the slander from people who he thought were his friends, and he always defended their marriage until she died and he just stayed silent throughout the years.

This book opens your eyes about mental illness, love, the need for success, who is responsible for whom when someone in your marriage is struggling with these issues. Also it shows that no matter what, you cant save people even if you tried, sometimes those people are just destined for whatever it is that comes their way.

This is a must read!!!! Thanks Netgalley and the Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

A very, very beautiful look at the life of Sylvia Plath through the eyes of Ted Hughes....through the eyes of the author. It only made Plath's and Hughes' life story so much more sad and haunting. As one of my favorite writer's for a very long time, it was good to see this side of things. And it was a sadness that is all too real.

5/5 Stars

A look at Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes's relationship from the eyes and mind of Hughes. An interesting, lyrical take on their relationship.

The narration on this and overall story was great and intriguing by Sylvia Platt has never been close to my favorite writers/poets. I did like learning more about her other relationships but this was not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley, Connie Palmen and Amazon Crossing for an honest review.

Avaiable: 1/12/21