I Choose To Live

'I lived through the Dutroux affair from the inside, and all these years I have kept silent about it - about my 'personal' Dutroux Affair, my time in the company of the most hated psychopath in Belgium. I need to write this book for three reasons: so that people stop giving me strange looks and treating me like a curiosity; so that no one ever asks me any more questions ever again; and so that the judicial system never again frees a paedophile for 'good behaviour'.'

'The Dutroux Affair' shook the whole of Europe. In the middle of the immense machinery of investigation and justice there was Sabine Dardenne herself, Dutroux's last victim. She was held captive for eighty days - and survived. Far from sensationalising the horror, her story, dignified and restrained, is ultimately uplifting. Says Sabine Dardenne, 'I choose to live'.

“On May 28, 1996, Sabine Dardenne was kidnapped by one of Europe's most infamous pedophiles, Marc Dutroux. She was twelve years old. This international best-seller is her courageous and uplifting testimony.”

A moving tale of courage and survival. Extraordinary strength ... one comes away from her book shocked, angered and deeply humbled - Mail Like the scariest fairy tales, it involves a little girl, a secret dungeon and a monster. But it is not a fairy tale: it is true . . . I have nev

Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday - 'A compelling memoir... a bold and dignified book'

Observer - 'Here is a book that refuses to cushion the reader with assurances of redemption and happily-ever-after - it is primarily written not as an aid to hea

Mail - 'direct, unpretentious, chatty, feet-on-the-ground. Sometimes shockingly so'

Sabine Dardenne was Marc Dutroux's last victim and was held prisoner for eighty days. In 2004, eight years after her kidnapping, she testified at his trial. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

"The Dutroux Affair" shook the whole of Europe. Marc Detroux had been convicted of rape, but was released early from prison for good behavior. He went on to kidnap several youg girls, torture them in his basement dungeon, and leave some to die. There were many apparent missteps in the case, and there was a huge public outcry against Belgium's judicial system. In the middle of the immense machinery of investigation and justice, there was Sabine Dardenne herself, Dutroux's last victim. She was held captive for 80 days and survived. Far from sensationalizing the horror, her story, dignified and restrained, is ultimately uplifting.

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