Your Story, My Story: A Novel

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From the award-winning author ofThe Friendshipcomes a shattering, brilliantly inventive novel based on the volatile true love story of literary icons Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.

In 1963 Sylvia Plath took her own life in her London flat. Her death was the culmination of a brief, brilliant life lived in the shadow of clinical depressiona condition exacerbated by her tempestuous relationship with mercurial poet Ted Hughes. The ensuing years saw Plath rise to martyr status while Hughes was cast as the cause of her suicide, his infidelity at the heart of her demise.

For decades, Hughes never bore witness to the truth of their marriageone buried beneath a mudslide of apocryphal stories, gossip, sensationalism, and myth. Until now.

In this mesmerising fictional work, Connie Palmen tells his side of the story, previously untold, delivered in Ted Hughes's own uncompromising voice. A brutal and lyrical confessional,Your Story, My Storypaints an indelible picture of their seven-year relationshipthe soaring highs and profound lows of star-crossed soul mates bedeviled by their personal demons. It will forever change the way we think about these two literary icons.

'Enthralling...Palmen's prose is beautiful and neither condemns nor exculpates Hughes. Palmen took on a tall order with this one, and does an admirable job of delivering.' Publishers Weekly

Reviews

Connie Palmens Your Story, My Story is a lacerating portrait of passion and genius, both of which are gifts that can arrive with mortality hidden in their folds. It does what only a novel can doprobes beneath the official story to get to the dark and mysterious heart of the matter. Its a remarkable book. Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours EnthrallingPalmens prose is beautiful and neither condemns nor exculpates Hughes. Palmen took on a tall order with this one, and does an admirable job of delivering. Publishers Weekly Brilliantly gives voice to Ted HughesPalmen brings incredible emotion and life to these two renowned poets and embodies Hughes fully. This confessional will challenge readers to see Ted Hughes and his story in a different light. Booklist The careful, vivid language of Your Story, My Story makes it rewarding reading. Los Angeles Review of Books Dutch author Connie Palmens latest novel, Your Story, My Story, translated by Eileen J. Stevens and Anna Asbury, uses Plath and Hughess ill-fated marriage as a vehicle for larger questions about lust, loyalty, and griefPalmen, Stevens, and Asbury have achieved remarkable success in bringing Hughess literary voice to the page; reading Your Story, My Story feels like reading straight from Hughess diary. The prose is lovely, the emotions rawengrossingPalmen, Stevens, and Asbury replicate Hughess writing style with startling authenticity, and Palmen deftly draws out internal conflict in her charactersthe craftsmanship is undeniable. Asymptote Journal Palmen cleverly asserts her talent, as she delves into a poetic narrative akin to Hughess own voice as he tries to keep up with the quickly changing moods of his wife, who is every extreme of fury, wit, and passionate goddess all in one. Palmen takes us into Hughess mind to see things from his perspective, playing devils advocate, hoping to shed some light on his own personal truth and to show that there are always two sides to a story. Paperback Paris With the outcome known from the start, its the path we follow to get there that makes this beautifully written ode to Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath so engrossing and emotional: a love story of euphoric joy and acute sorrow. Filled with literary references and written like a daily journal, its private intimacy is like being inside Hughess head, with all notion of a story, written and translated by strangers, forgotten. Historical Novels Review Speaking as Hughes, in his distinctive style (life is mainly nature wondering what to attack next), Dutch novelist Palmen provides a version of events from his sideIn running through the events of their tumultuous pairing, with Plaths mental illness relentless in its demands, Palmen asks if their relationship was doomed all along. Strong Words Magazine

Author Bio

Connie Palmen was born in Sint Odilinberg, the Netherlands, and studied literature and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. She is the author of The Laws, voted the European Novel of the Year and short-listed for the 1996 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; The Friendship, winner of the AKO Literature Prize; Lucifer; and the autobiographical novel I.M. Ms. Palmen currently lives in Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.conniepalmen.nl.