Cries Unheard: the Story of Mary Bell: Amazon.co.uk: Gitta Sereny: 9780333753118: Books

Product Description

Pieces together the damaged life of Mary Bell, who aged 11 was tried and convicted of manslaughter after the death of two young boys. Only as an adult has she been able to realize the moral enormity of her crimes. The story of her life forces the reader to consider society's responsibility for children's crime. Originally published in 1998.

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews

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4.6 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

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63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will alter your judgement..., 12 Jun 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Cries Unheard: the Story of Mary Bell (Paperback)

I, like countless others found the Bell case and the more recent Bulger case totally heinous. I formed the opinion that these 'evil' children deserved to be detained indefinitely, and that Mary never should have been allowed to have a child of her own.

I read this book purely out of curiosity, and I finished the book with a totally different judgement.

The author Gitta Sereny followed the initial case, attended the trial and wrote the book 'The case of Mary bell'. She wrote in a recent publication of her hopes of one day writing Mary's own account of the terrible tot murders in Newcastle in 1968.

Mary finally decided to talk to Gitta Sereny in 1995 and for a year, they collaborated to produce 'Cries Unheard'. At no point in the book does Mary attempt to excuse the terrible crimes she committed. The book concentrates on the painful suffering childhood Mary endured at the hands of her Mother, a prostitute who introduced Mary to the most horrendous kind of child abuse and how the legal system appallingly mismanaged her time in detention.

Gitta Sereny searches for reasons as to why certain children take the leap from being simply 'off the rails' to committing heinous crimes. Contrary to the judges opinion at Bell's trial that she was a monster and born evil, that all children are born good and pure and that childhood influences mainly parental can take a child to breaking point and commit crime.

After reading this book I think you will feel what I now feel towards Mary Bell, utter sadness and pity that social workers or the legal system did not intervene or become aware of Mary's disturbances. The saddest thing of all is that if they had been as vigilant as Gitta Sereny and probed a lot deeper into the reasons behind Mary's actions, the two little boys would have very likely been alive today.

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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must' for every serious thinker, 10 Sep 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cries Unheard: the Story of Mary Bell (Paperback)

Sensitively written, well researched, story of Mary Bell, dubbed a 'child murderer' but clearly presented here as more sinned against than sinning. Her story should be compulsory reading for all who have to handle children in such circumstances, but especially by parents and police, social workers and journalists, and the general public before they rush to pass judgement. One of the best books I have ever read.

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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Praise to Gitta Sereny, 6 April 2003

By

Francis Seamus Smith (Edinburgh) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cries Unheard: the Story of Mary Bell (Paperback)

A thought provoking biography of what at the time was considered to be an evil crime of unparalleled horror. The author gets well into the mind of a particularly complex human being, something a lot of clever and obviously not so clever psychiatrists and social workers had tried to do during all her years in captivity. One finds it very hard to believe, even in the late 60's, that more background wasn't checked into and discovery made of how much influence Mary Bell's mother, Betty's upbringing had on her. Although Mary Bell does not for a very long period of the book come across as a particularly nice person, one wonders how any of us would have coped with so much mental and sexual abuse before the age of 11. The most worrying aspect of the book is the fact that even today, we have not progressed dramatically in how we deal with child offenders, as illustrated by the infamous Jamie Bulger case. Not easy, or should I say, not pleasant reading but essential if we are to learn anything from Mary Bell's case. Much praise should be given to Gitta Sereny for sticking with Mary for all these years and at least showing that no matter what we all thought at the time, Mary Bell was maybe not as evil as everybody thought.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Cries unheard
I found this book to be very slow reading. I gave up half way through. Too much court room jargon. You need to have a degree in literature to reed it.

Published 5 months ago by shazzer