Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom Quotes

“The hurt is not intense when one is hardened to the cold.”
― Sylvia Plath, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom

“There are no return trips on this line,” the woman said softly. “Once you get to the ninth kingdom, there is no going back. It is the kingdom of negation, of the frozen will. It has many names.”
― Sylvia Plath, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom

“I don’t know what’s the trouble with children these days. They seem to get worse and worse.”
― Sylvia Plath, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom

“Like one awakening from a sleep of death, she walked along the gravel path that twinkled with the mica of the little pebbles. It was the spring of the year, and there was a woman selling flowers on the street corner, singing to herself. Mary could see the full boxes of white roses and daffodils, looped with green leaves, and the woman in a brown coat bending maternally over the display. As Mary approached, the woman lifted her head and met Mary’s eyes with a blue gaze of triumphant love. “I have been waiting for you, dear,” she said.”
― Sylvia Plath, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom: A Story

“But you don't understand." Mary's face crumpled and she began to cry. Tears dropped wet and scalding through her fingers. "You don't understand. It's not my fault I took this train. It was my parents. They wanted me to go."

"You let them buy the ticket for you, though," the woman persisted. "You let them put you on the train, didn't you? You accepted and did not rebel."

"It's still not my fault," Mary exclaimed vehemently, but the woman's eyes were upon her, level after blue level of reproach, and Mary felt herself sinking, drowned in shame.”
― Sylvia Plath, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom

“«Pero ¿qué es el noveno reino?», le pregunta a una mujer de ojos azules y piel arrugada. «Es el reino de la negación, de la voluntad congelada -responde-. No hay retorno posible.»”
― Sylvia Plath, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom

“Ahead was a gateway, studded with brilliant red neon lights, and there was jazz coming syncopated from the distance, beckoning. No, not the gate. To the right an unlighted stairway rose, menacing and narrow. Mary turned and ran toward it, the echo ricocheting back from the stone walls. Under her ribs the breath was caught, tight and hurting. The shouts were louder now.”
― Sylvia Plath, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom: A Story

“Once you get to the ninth kingdom, there is no going back. It is the kingdom of negation, of the frozen will. It has many names.”
― Sylvia Plath, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom: A Story