Gisele Pelicot to release memoir, A Hymn To Life, next year

Gisele Pelicot, who became a global symbol of the fight against sexual violence during a rape trial in France last year, will publish a memoir next year.

A Hymn To Life will be published in English, French and 20 other languages in January 2026, UK publisher the Bodley Head said.

Pelicot said: “I am immensely grateful for the extraordinary support I have received since the beginning of the trial. I now want to tell my story in my own words.

“Through this book, I hope to convey a message of strength and courage to all those who are subjected to difficult ordeals.

“May they never feel shame. And in time, may they even learn to savour life again and find peace.”

Last year, 51 men were convicted by a court in the southern French city of Avignon which handed down prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years after a shocking case that spurred a national reckoning over rape culture.

Pelicot’s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and all but one of his co-defendants were convicted of sexually assaulting her over a period of nearly a decade after he had knocked her unconscious by lacing her food and drink with drugs.

Another co-defendant was convicted of drugging and raping his own wife with Dominique Pelicot’s help.

Gisele Pelicot became a hero to many in France and beyond for courageously demanding that the men’s trial be held in open court.

The evidence included horrifying homemade videos of the abuse that Dominique Pelicot filmed in the couple’s retirement home in the small Provence town of Mazan and elsewhere.