Secrets in the Cellar

Secrets in the Cellar
by John Glatt

Secrets in the Cellar
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Book Summary Information

Author: John Glatt
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-03-03
ISBN: 0312947860
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime

Book Reviews of Secrets in the Cellar

Book Review: DADDY DEAREST...
Summary: 4 Stars

On the morning of August 28, 1984, in the small market town of Amstetten, Austria, eighteen year old Elisabeth Fritzl, at the request of her then forty-nine year old father, Josef, accompanied him to the cellar of their house, ostensibly to assist him in some mundane chore. Little did she know that she would not see the light of day again for nearly twenty-four years.

This is the story that gripped the world when it first came to light. It was a story as bizarre as it was unbelievable. Josef Fritzl had kept his beautiful daughter Elisabeth trapped in a soundproofed concrete and steel reinforced cellar for twenty-four years. During that time, he made her into his sex slave and fathered seven children with her. Meanwhile, Elisabeth's mother, Rosemarie, lived upstairs with her husband, having been led to believe that her daughter had runaway to live with a religious cult, never knowing that Elisabeth still lived at home, albeit in the cellar.

Over time, three of Elisabeth's children would appear in infancy on the Fritzls' doorstep, ostensibly having been abandoned by Elisabeth, who was supposedly still living in a religious cult. These three children would be brought up by Rosemarie and Josef, while three others continued living in the cellar, a fourth having died shortly after birth. The three children living upstairs had no memory of their brief life below in the cellar.

In April 2008, Elisabeth's nineteen year old daughter, Kerstin, became so ill that she was close to death and taken to the hospital, after Elisabeth pleaded with Josef to save her life. This was the first time that Kerstin had ever left the cellar in her entire life. It was shortly thereafter that Elisabeth and her family were freed, and the truth that shocked the world came to light, resulting in the arrest of the now seventy-three year old Josef Fritzl.

The book explores the lives of those involved in this shocking story, as well as the events that led to Elisabeth's eventual imprisonment in the cellar, the lives that were lived below ground, and the aftermath with its many problems and issues. While this book is not well written, the story is so unusual and shocking that the reader cannot help but be gripped by its inherent pathos and horror. There is certainly a place in hell for Josef Fritzl.

Summary of Secrets in the Cellar

Josef Fritzl was a 73-year-old retired engineer in Austria. He seemed to be living a normal life with his wife, Rosemarie, and their family?though one daughter, Elisabeth, had decades earlier been ?lost? to a religious cult. Throughout the years, three of Elisabeth?s children mysteriously appeared on the Fritzls? doorstep; Josef and Rosemarie raised them as their own. But only Josef knew the truth about Elisabeth?s disappearance?

For twenty-seven years, Josef had imprisoned and molested Elisabeth in his man-made basement dungeon, complete with sound-proof paneling and code-protected electric locks. There, she would eventually give birth to a total of seven of Josef?s children. One died in infancy?and the other three were raised alongside Elisabeth, never to see the light of day.

Then, in 2008, one of Elisabeth?s children became seriously ill, and was taken to the hospital. It was the first time the nineteen-year-old girl had ever gone outside?and soon, the truth about her background, her family?s captivity, and Josef?s unspeakable crimes would come to light.

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