Gisele Pelicot, who was drugged by her husband Dominique and raped by more than 50 men, has announced her memoir A Hymn To Life – and said she wants to ‘tell my story in my own words’
Gisele Pelicot, who bravely testified in court after being drugged by her husband and gang raped by dozens of men, is to publish a memoir next year. A Hymn To Life will be published in English, French and 20 other languages in January 2026, UK publisher Bodley Head said.
Last year, 51 men were convicted of rape and assault by a court in the southern French city of Avignon and handed prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years. The horrifying case made headlines around the world, and sparked protests across France about violence against women and girls.
Ms 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.
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Announcing her memoir on Friday, 72-year-old Gisele 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, Gisele Pelicot was applauded for her bravery in France and beyond for 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.
Many of the perpetrators had been invited by Dominique Pelicot via the internet. While 51 men were convicted, police believed 72 men had travelled to the home to rape and abuse Gisèle, but were not able to identify them all.
In September, Vaucluse Criminal Court heard how the Pelicots’ only daughter, Caroline Darian, had also been secretly photographed in the nude by her father. He kept the images concealed in a computer file entitled ‘around my daughter, naked’.
Ms Darian, 46, whose own memoir I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again was recently published in English, tearfully told the court in September that she believed her father was “one of the greatest sexual predators of all time”. She recalled seeing the two obscene images of herself for the first time, and said: “There was a woman who, apparently, was sleeping, lying on her side, with the light on. We could see her buttocks.
“In the second photo, this woman is in the same position, wearing the same underpants, with the same staging. Her buttocks were showing.”
The daughter has since filed a separate legal complaint against her father. Gisele Pelicot was named as the most important person of 2024 in an opinion poll in France, and was also honoured by Time magazine for her public statements calling for a change in how society treats victims of abuse.
If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
