{"product_id":"ariels-gift-ted-hughes-sylvia-plath-and-the-story-of-birthday-letters-9780393323016","title":"Ariel's Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and the Story of Birthday Letters","description":"When Ted Hughes's \u003cem\u003eBirthday Letters\u003c\/em\u003e was published in 1998, it was greeted with astonishment and acclaim, immediately landing on the bestseller list. Few suspected that Hughes had been at work for a quarter of a century on this cycle of poems addressed to his first wife, Sylvia Plath. In \u003cem\u003eAriel's Gift\u003c\/em\u003e, Erica Wagner explores the destructive relationship between these two poets through their lives and their writings. She provides a commentary to the poems in \u003cem\u003eBirthday Letters\u003c\/em\u003e, showing the events that shaped them and, crucially, showing how they draw upon Plath's own work. \"Both narratively engaging and scholastically comprehensive.\"--Thomas Lynch, \u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/em\u003e \"Wagner has set the poems of Hughes's \u003cem\u003eBirthday Letters\u003c\/em\u003e in the context of his marriage to Plath with great delicacy.\"--\u003cem\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWagner, Erica:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eErica Wagner\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of \u003cem\u003eGravity\u003c\/em\u003e, a book of stories, and \u003cem\u003eAriel's Gift\u003c\/em\u003e. She was born in New York and lives in London, where she is literary editor of \u003cem\u003eThe Times\u003c\/em\u003e.","brand":"W. W. Norton \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50324006797586,"sku":"9780393323016","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8628dfaa-cb77-4cf5-bd12-157cbac122a8.jpg?v=1727664214","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/ariels-gift-ted-hughes-sylvia-plath-and-the-story-of-birthday-letters-9780393323016","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}