A collection of early prose stories, journalism and journal pieces exploring the themes of mental illness, creativity and gender, from one of the twentieth century's most important writers.

Every day from nine to five I sit at my desk facing the door of the office and type up other people's dreams.

An office assistant in a hospital pursues a secret vocation. A girl endures a series of initiation ceremonies to join her high school sorority. A married woman seeks relief from the dull realities of daily life. From her mid-teens Sylvia Plath wrote stories, twenty-four of which are collected here, along with works of journalism and extracts from her journal.

'All the pieces presented here are revealing . . . It ought to round out one's knowledge of the writer, and, perhaps, offer some surprises. Luckily it does both.' Margaret Atwood, New York Times

'A beautiful, delicate, commanding poet.' Lena Dunham

'She embodied a seismic shift in consciousness which enabled us to feel and think as we do today, and of which she was a supremely vulnerable and willing casualty. She changed our world.' Margaret Drabble, Guardian