Thirteen siblings were held captive in their own home--and lived to
tell their story.
On January 14, 2018, a seventeen-year-old girl climbed out of the window
of her Perris, California home and dialed 911 on a borrowed cell phone.
Struggling to stay calm, she told the operator that she and her twelve
siblings--ranging in age from two to twenty-nine--were being abused by
their parents. When the dispatcher asked for her address, the girl
hesitated. "I've never been out," she stammered. She wasn't even sure
how to spell her own last name.
Louise and David Turpin presented themselves as loving, faithful
parents. On social media they shared snapshots of family outings and
vacations, often with their children in matching outfits. But what
police discovered when they entered the Turpin home would eclipse the
most shocking child abuse cases in history. For years, Louise and David
had kept their children in increasing isolation, trapping them in a
sinister world of torture, fear, and near starvation.
New York Times bestselling author John Glatt's The Family Next Door
is the definitive, devastating, and unforgettable account of the
Turpins: a family whose dark secrets would shock and captivate the
world.
"Thoroughly researched and thoroughly disturbing." --Booklist
"Unflinching...this chilling portrayal of abuse and secrecy may leave
readers looking differently at their neighbors."--Publishers Weekly