THE DAFFODIL DAYS
by Helen Bain
A young couple’s final year of marriage is viewed through the eyes of their neighbors in the English countryside.
Bain’s debut novel offers a bricolage of voices—real and imagined, famous and unknown—as their lives intersect with Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath between August 1961 and October 1962. Shortly before the birth of their second child, Ted and Sylvia bought a dilapidated yet charming home named Court Green in North Tawton, Devon. Told in reverse, the novel opens with Sylvia and her children moving to London with a promise to return to their country home in the spring—something that will never happen, as Sylvia dies by suicide a few months later. Each chapter offers a unique point of view on not only the literary luminaries, but the town and its less-famous inhabitants. Whether told from the perspective of the local doctor, midwife, church bell ringer, scorned wife, or plumber, these close third-person snapshots offer a fictionalized (but informed) glimpse into the couple’s relationship, as the final year of their tumultuous marriage becomes the novel’s undercurrent. Some of the most affecting chapters are those that seem to have the least connection to Plath and Hughes, especially their fame. This is most apparent during an afternoon shopping trip when a young salesgirl named Jenny helps Sylvia find clothes for an upcoming trip. When Jenny admits that she dreams of moving to London, the poet says: “It’s so important…to set your sights on what you want. Don’t let anything distract you or keep you back.” Plath’s naked ambition, which surfaces in many of these encounters, causes discord in both her professional and personal lives. Bain deftly employs her vast research with prose that feels tactful, subtle, and assured. Readers familiar with Plath and Hughes will delight in the additional layers of meaning—while those with less knowledge may not fully understand the importance of orienting the story around them.
A quiet, richly drawn debut about the small-town folks who orbited the 20th century’s most famous literary couple.