The Girl Next Door (novel)
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The Girl Next Door was written by author Jack Ketchum in 1989. It is loosely based on the true story of the murder of Sylvia Likens in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1965.
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[edit] Plot Summary
The story is set in 1950s suburban America, told in flashback form by the narrator, David.
After giving a quick tour of his neighborhood and childhood friends, David introduces the readers to Ruth, a single mother and alcoholic amongst other things. Ruth has, over time, gained the trust of the neighborhood children by allowing them to come freely into her home, play as rough as they wish, and even drink an occasional beer with her.
Fast forward to the catalyst of the story when Meg and Susan, Ruth's nieces, come to live with her after the death of their parents. All seems well at first: the girls make friends with the other children and David begins to develop feelings for the sweet and innocent Meg.
However, Ruth's common sense and sanity have been diminishing over time and the burden of having two more children to care for seems to speed up her descent into madness.
Ruth begins verbally abusing the two girls, then becoming physical, often while many of the other neighborhood children are watching. Then, when David and the girls think things couldn't get any worse, Ruth allows the other kids to abuse them, making them feel that because she is an adult giving them such permission, they cannot be punished for their actions.
With both Meg (who is severely injured and on the brink of death) and Susan eventually locked up in the bomb shelter in Ruth's basement, David realizes that he must do something before time runs out and he loses the first girl he ever loved.
However, despite his best attempts, his plan is foiled by Ruth and the children she has under her control. And after one final act of torture, young Meg is finally dead, and the lives of all those involved forever changed.
[edit] Based on Actual Events
Sylvia Likens, along with her younger sister Jenny, was a young girl who was left by her parents in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski, a single mother of seven children, and a virtual stranger with whom Sylvia and Jenny were left to stay by their traveling carnival working parents.
As the months passed, Sylvia became the target of Baniszewski's rage, senselessly beaten by not only the deranged, drug-addled woman, but by the Baniszewski children as well as the neighborhood children who frequented the household. The final days of young Sylvia's life were spent locked as a prisoner in the basement of the home where she was tied up, starved, beaten and forced to endure unspeakable atrocities.
Only three months after arriving in the home, Sylvia Likens succumbed to her injuries and died.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
A feature film based on Ketchum's novel was released in 2007. Entitled Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door, the film stars Blanche Baker, William Atherton, and Daniel Manche. It was directed by Gregory Wilson from a screenplay by Daniel Farrands and Philip Nutman. After a successful series of screenings at film festivals around the world, the film was released by Starz Home Entertainment on December 4, 2007.
