In the harrowing acclaimed novel by the celebrated poet, Esther Greenwood, a rising editor during the early 1950s, suffers a nervous breakdown, falling deeply into depression and madness. Reprint. 50,000 first printing A beautifully designed Harper Perennial Deluxe Edition of this haunting American classic: a realistic and emotional novel about a woman battling mental illness and societal pressures written by the iconic American writer Sylvia Plath. It is this perfectly wrought prose and the freshness of Plath's voice in The Bell Jar that make this book enduring in its appeal. -- USA Today The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under--maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's neurosis becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar an enduring classic.