She is said to have been one of the major inspirations for William March’s award winning novel, “ The Bad Seed,” published in 1954. She was a notorious woman who was believed to have murdered between twenty-five and forty men, women and children in the years spanning from 1900 through 1908. Sometimes it lay deeply hidden, sometimes it lay close to the surface but always it was there, ready to appear, under the right conditions, in all its irrational dreadfulness.”īelle Sorenson Gunness, immigrated from Norway and settled in Indiana in 1881.

'William March is still the unrecognised genius of our time.“It seemed to her suddenly that violence was an inescapable factor of the heart, perhaps the most important factor of all – an ineradicable thing that lay, like a bad seed, behind kindness, behind compassion, behind the embrace of love itself. One has to believe that these appalling things took place exactly as the author says they did.' - The Spectator (UK) 'The Bad Seed' is terrifyingly good, not only because its theme is worked out so powerfully, but because every character is convincing. In the author's hands this is adequate material for an absolutely first class novel of moral bewilderments and responsibilities nearest the heart of our decade.' - The New York Times. Nowhere is this gift better displayed than in The Bad Seed - the portrayal of a coldly evil, murderous child and what she does to both victims and family. 'William March knows where human fears and secrets are buried. 'An impeccable tale of pure evil.'-'Atlantic Monthly'

This is a novel bound to arouse strong responses, to generate vehement discussion, and so not easily to be forgotten.' - New York Herald Tribune. a straightforward, technically accomplished story of suspense. will enjoy as the work of one of the most satisfying of American novelists.' - Chicago Tribune 'The Bad Seed is a novel of suspense and mounting horror, which the reader. 'An impeccable tale of pure evil.' - The Atlantic Vintage Movie Classics spotlights classic films that have stood the test of time, now rediscovered through the publication of the novels on which they were based. The Bad Seed is an indelible portrait of an evil that wears an innocent face, one which still resonates in popular culture today. Originally published in 1954, William March's final novel was an instant bestseller and National Book Award finalist before it was adapted for the stage and made into a 1956 film. But when their neighborhood suffers a series of terrible accidents, her mother begins to wonder: Why do bad things seem to happen when little Rhoda is around?

With her carefully plaited hair and her sweet cotton dresses, she's the very picture of old-fashioned innocence. There's something special about eight-year-old Rhoda Penmark. The bestselling novel that inspired Mervyn LeRoy's classic horror film about the little girl who can get away with anything even murder.

Novel the bad seed