Gisèle Pelicot's new memoir, "A Hymn to Life," recounts her survival through nearly a decade of rape and betrayal by her ex-husband. (Credit: Book cover)
Gisèle Pelicot Releases Memoir Detailing Abuse by Ex-Husband — and Her Own Survival
The global feminist icon has kicked off a two-month book tour and is speaking publicly about picking up the pieces of her life.
Gisèle Pelicot is once again refusing to stay in the shadows with the release of her new memoir, A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides, which recounts her survival after she was drugged and raped by her husband and dozens of other men for nearly a decade.
Almost a year and a half after Pelicot waived her anonymity to speak publicly about the 2024 case, which shocked France and the rest of the world with its horrific details of abuse, Pelicot hopes her story can help other survivors.
She said she wants the book to deliver “a message of hope to all the women who are going through a very complicated period in their lives,” according to the Associated Press.
In recent interviews, the 73-year-old Pelicot has described how she survived the experience — her ex-husband, to whom she’d been married for nearly 50 years, mixed sedatives in her food and drink so he could rape her and took videos as other men he solicited did the same — and found happiness in healing.
“Today I’m doing better, and this book allowed me to engage in self-reflection, to take stock of my life,” she said as she kicked off her whirlwind two-month book tour. “I had to try to rebuild myself on this field of ruins. Today I am a woman standing strong.”
A Hymn to Life has been translated into 22 languages, with an English audiobook read by actress Emma Thompson. At the end of her book tour in April, Pelicot will receive a major award recognizing her bravery from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
As she puts the pieces of her personal life back together, Pelicot has worked on repairing her relationships with her three adult children – and she has even found love again with a retired Air France steward and widower.
“That, too, is a message of hope,” she told the New York Times. “To tell yourself that at 73 years old, you can still live a love story.”
