Bone China Girls: A Poetic Account of a Female Crime

by Kori Frazier Morgan

On October 26, 1965, the body of sixteen-year-old Sylvia Likens was found in a ramshackle house in an Indianapolis neighborhood. Left in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski, an ailing, middle aged housewife, while her parents traveled as carnival workers, Sylvia became the target of unspeakable abuse and torture at the hands of Gertrude and her children. Approaching the Likens case as a crime against a young woman by women, Morgan uses persona poetry to explore the points of view of the female players in the event, from Sylvia and her sister, Jenny, to Gertrude and her daughters, Paula, Stephanie, and Shirley. Full of surprising revelation and use of form and language, Bone China Girls is a disturbing portrayal of what causes women - particularly young women - to victimize each other, as well as why Likens' murder continues to bear relevance fifty years later.

38 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 10, 2017

Reviews

[Kayla Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting

Morgan takes us into the psyches of all the women involved in the tragic case of Sylvia Likens. By the end of her account, she leaves the reader crying with heart bleeding, aching for the poor victim and even the others involved. She causes us to question the underlying motives for such cruelty and ponder upon the grave injustice of a society that turned a blind eye to suspicions. Delivered in powerful prose, this account is a must read for women - nay, people - everywhere.

[Havelah McLat · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I don't read much of true crime stories, this book is well written in the form of freestyle poems about a young girl murdered by a group of women. Very sad and horrid situation. However, you get to see their POVs and why they did what they did and their motives.