A Hymn to Life Shame has to Change Sides

**AN INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Named a Best Book of 2026 so Far by The New Yorker • The Telegraph

“An emblem of resilience for women everywhere.” ―Vogue

“A rousing feminist manifesto.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Gisèle has challenged the patriarchy everywhere. . . . She has become a symbol of strength, of endurance, of kindness, of honesty—and we will be forever grateful.” —Gloria Steinem

“[A Hymn to Life] is the end of silence, unconsciousness, forgetting, unknowing. It is the start of consciousness; the start of change.” ―The Observer

The sexual assault that stunned the world. A courageous woman’s rallying call for shame to "change sides." For the very first time, Gisèle Pelicot tells her story.**

In 2024, Gisèle Pelicot waived her right to anonymity in her legal fight against her ex-husband and the fifty men accused of sexually assaulting her, a courageous decision that inspired millions of people around the world. Only four years prior, Gisèle had made the shattering discovery that her partner, Dominique Pelicot, had been secretly drugging and raping her, and inviting strangers to also abuse her in their home for nearly a decade.

“Shame must change sides,” Gisèle bravely declared at the opening of the trial in Avignon, France, and the dictum soon became an international rallying cry. Her message—that she and other victims of sexual abuse have no reason to feel ashamed—galvanized a movement to radically transform public sentiment and legislation surrounding cases of sexual violence.

In A Hymn to Life, Gisèle tells her story for the very first time, not as victim, but as witness. With unwavering honesty and devastating grace, she retraces the steps of a life built over the course of five decades, the final decade of her marriage and its hidden abuse, and the long path of emotional healing that ensues. As Gisèle transcends the unfathomable traumas of her past, against all odds, she emerges with a renewed sense of passion and reverence for her life.

Part memoir, part act of defiance, A Hymn to Life is a moving story of survival, testimony, and courage, and an unforgettable portrait of a woman who broke her silence, reclaimed her voice, and forced a reckoning.

GISÈLE PELICOT was named the most noteworthy person of 2024 in an opinion poll in France, eclipsing world leaders, and was honoured by TIME magazine. To mark International Women’s Day, The Independent named her the most influential woman of 2025.