A witty and melancholic portrayal of 1950s New York set against the backdrop of mental illness, Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar is newly introduced by Plath biographer and scholar, Heather Clark, and features seven ethereal illustrations by Alexandra Levasseur.

Achingly sad, darkly humorous and engaging, The Bell Jar is a beautifully written coming-of-age novel. This startling new edition celebrates its literary status and timeless subject matter. Plath biographer Heather Clark has written a fascinating new introduction exploring the author’s life, and the edition is sensitively illustrated by painter and sculptor Alexandra Levasseur.

The Bell Jar brought mental health and the feminist agenda to the fore through the frustrated eyes of an aspiring writer trying to be taken seriously in misogynistic 1950s America. When exploring Esther’s spiralling descent into breakdown, Plath’s quick wit and wry observations were viewed by some critics as flippant, and the novel courted controversy for its supposed glamourisation of mental illness. As a mirror of the author’s life, it is a raw and real insight into a journey that is not exclusively harrowing and painful; there is hope and happiness too.