Assia Wevill, Ted Hughes’ lover and not-quite-full-time companion, was not technically Dr. Nicholas Hughes’ stepmother. She and his father never married during their six-year relationship. Associated Press got it wrong and hasn’t corrected it (though I called the bureau and asked the reporter to do so). Ted Hughes remarried in 1970. It must have been a tremendous upheaval in Nick Hughes life to have three familial caregivers–his great-aunt Hilda Farrar, his aunt Olwyn Hughes, and Mrs. Wevill–as well as a number of hired nannies, leave his day-to-day life before he was seven years old. As someone who owns practically every book by or about Ted Hughes, Assia Wevill, and Sylvia Plath, I had hoped that Dr. Hughes was “safe” in Alaska, with his own passionate interests, far from the buzz about his parents. But depression is an inherited disorder. Though I never met any member of the family, I felt as though I had lost one of my own sons. I pray for his sister, Frieda Hughes. As the last member standing of her nuclear family, this must be a horrendous loss for her. Depression is inherited and insidious. Help yourself, and/or your loved ones, who suffer from it.