TED HUGHES The Unauthorised Life

Classically trained British actor Mike Grady possesses the ideal voice and style to narrate this sprawling biography of poet, playwright, critic, translator, and children's author Ted Hughes (1930-1998), who often combined mythological, natural and classical themes into the sounds and rhythms of his modern verse. For American audiences, for better or worse, Hughes's turbulent life and career are forever entwined with the considerable reputation of his first wife, poet Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide in 1963. Author Bate seems to overcompensate by adding so many superlatives--greatest poet, best fisherman, exceptional chef--that the narrator has a hard task knowing what to accentuate because everything is accentuated with respect to this large-than-life writer. B.P. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2016]