The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath (1963)

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath offers the definitive fictional account of depression, tracing a young woman's breakdown during a 1950s New York internship. Its portrayal of psychiatric treatment is more harrowing than the typical literary novel: fewer than 30% of characters recover in Plath's world, compared to over 50% in comparable works. Published a month before Plath's suicide, the novel became a feminist touchstone for its unsparing look at ambition and mental illness.