Mary Ventura and the Ninth KingdomLips the colour of blood, the sun an unprecedented orange, train wheels that sound like 'guilt, and guilt, and guilt': these are just some of the things Mary Ventura begins to notice on her journey to the ninth kingdom. But what is the ninth kingdom? she asks a kind seeming lady in her carriage. It is the kingdom of the frozen will, comes the reply. There is no going back. Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom is Sylvia Plath's strange, dark tale of