Sylvia Plath's brilliant imagination and vividly descriptive storytelling will captivate you right from the moment Mary Ventura embarks on her momentous and life-altering train journey and will leave you hanging with a million questions at the end.

Plath's "Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom" begins with her protagonist, a naive young woman's reticent submission to her parents' will to make her a journey to the north country - the mysterious ninth kingdom. On her train ride, Mary finds solace in the apparent comfort, security and luxury the train offers, but there is an underlying menace that surrounds her. She has to mature and grow up, and take control of her life- the only way is to run like your life depends on it and escape. Replete with powerful and deliciously dark imagery and symbolism, it is a story of defiance in the face of adversity and showing active rebellion against all those moments of quiet acquiescence when you should have screamed, voiced and gesticulated your opinions and choices in deciding which course your life would take.