A Hymn to Life
AN INSTANT #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER • Named a Best Book of 2026 So Far by The Telegraph • Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by The New York Times • The Observer • The Guardian • Financial Times • BBC • Daily Mirror • The Irish Times • GQ • The Sydney Morning Herald
“Gisèle Pelicot’s new memoir, A Hymn to Life, is a reminder of organized narrative’s simple power. . . . Replete with details of modest domesticity in modern France, A Hymn to Life is also a rousing feminist manifesto, thanks to the phalanx that accompanied Gisèle, in protest and protectiveness, to the Palais de Justice each morning of the trial. It seeks a proper transfer of shame from sex-crime victims to their perpetrators, and the perpetrators’ enablers.” —The New York Times
“A Hymn to Life is alive with the kind of detail that wouldn’t look out of place in a good novel, but it’s the expression it gives to something glimpsed at during the trial that makes it so singular; namely, the transformation of Gisèle Pelicot from a self-avowedly ordinary woman, ‘content with my little life,’ into a figure of astonishing power.” —The Guardian
A Hymn to Life will tell Gisèle Pelicot’s story in her words, offer solace and hope, and make a positive contribution to changing the conversation around shame and to changing the world.
In 2024, Gisèle Pelicot inspired and moved millions of people with her astonishing courage and dignity as she chose to waive her right to anonymity in her legal fight against her husband and the 50 men accused of her sexual assault. Gisèle Pelicot’s call for shame to change sides in cases of sexual abuse, and the power of the messages she has sent out to the world, have generated an extraordinary public response and moved both women and men all over the world.
“Gisèle Pelicot’s new memoir, A Hymn to Life, is a reminder of organized narrative’s simple power. . . . Replete with details of modest domesticity in modern France, A Hymn to Life is also a rousing feminist manifesto, thanks to the phalanx that accompanied Gisèle, in protest and protectiveness, to the Palais de Justice each morning of the trial. It seeks a proper transfer of shame from sex-crime victims to their perpetrators, and the perpetrators’ enablers.” —The New York Times
“A Hymn to Life is alive with the kind of detail that wouldn’t look out of place in a good novel, but it’s the expression it gives to something glimpsed at during the trial that makes it so singular; namely, the transformation of Gisèle Pelicot from a self-avowedly ordinary woman, ‘content with my little life,’ into a figure of astonishing power.” —The Guardian
A Hymn to Life will tell Gisèle Pelicot’s story in her words, offer solace and hope, and make a positive contribution to changing the conversation around shame and to changing the world.
In 2024, Gisèle Pelicot inspired and moved millions of people with her astonishing courage and dignity as she chose to waive her right to anonymity in her legal fight against her husband and the 50 men accused of her sexual assault. Gisèle Pelicot’s call for shame to change sides in cases of sexual abuse, and the power of the messages she has sent out to the world, have generated an extraordinary public response and moved both women and men all over the world.
