One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels

"A coming-of-age masterpiece. . . . Sylvia Plath has become one of the influential writers of her time." --Boston Globe

Sylvia Plath's masterwork--an acclaimed and enduring novel about a young woman falling into the grip of mental illness and societal pressures

Esther Greenwood is a bright, beautiful, enormously talented young woman, but she's slowly going under--maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that her neurosis becomes palpably real, even rational--as accessible an experience as going to the movies. A deep penetration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche, The Bell Jar is an extraordinary accomplishment and a haunting American classic.