White Rabbit: A Novel

Sylvia Plath comes to visit in this haunting literary coming of age novel. 

In a yellow house perched on the crumbling edge of Massachusetts Bay, eleven-year-old Penelope Willows is living in the shadow of loss. Her father is gone, leaving behind only whispers and shadows, while her mother drifts further away each day, lost in her own grief. Left alone in a home that seems frozen in time, Penelope clings to her routines, counting everything she can—logs by the stove, soup cans in the pantry—hoping to hold the world together.

But this is no ordinary house. It once belonged to the poet Sylvia Plath, and her presence lingers in every corner, her ghost becoming an unexpected companion to Penelope. As the days stretch on, Penelope begins to hear the echoes of Plath’s poetry in the wind, feel her sadness seep into the walls, and see her ghost in the mirrors and empty rooms.

When Penelope’s mother begins to withdraw further into her own world, leaving Penelope more isolated than ever, the girl’s grip on reality starts to fray. Haunted by the absence of her father and the presence of a ghost, Penelope must navigate the treacherous waters of memory, madness, and the fear that she, too, will be lost to the abyss.