A woman whose courtroom testimony jolted France's debate over sexual violence is now telling the story in her own words. Gisele Pelicot, who was repeatedly drugged and raped over roughly a decade in southern France in assaults orchestrated by her then-husband, has published a memoir about the Avignon trial that made her a symbol for campaigns against violence toward women, per France 24. Excerpts from the French edition appeared this week in Le Monde. The book's title, A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides, reflects Pelicot's insistence that blame should rest with perpetrators rather than survivors.
Pelicot, 73, chose to have the 2024 proceedings open to the public, rejecting the option of a closed courtroom despite the intimate nature of the crimes. "If I had been 20 years younger, I might not have dared to refuse a closed session," she writes, describing how age and fading shame changed her calculation. She was ultimately left asking: "Wasn't I protecting them by closing the door?" The nearly four-month trial ended with the conviction of 51 men, including her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, who had recruited assailants online and filmed some of the attacks.
The memoir, written with journalist and novelist Judith Perrignon and published by Flammarion, is due out Feb. 17 in 22 languages. Pelicot recounts the abuses during the final decade of her marriage; her shock at learning of the rapes and seeing herself as a seemingly lifeless "rag doll"; her emotional state before the trial, during which she feared "becoming a hostage to their stares, their lies, their cowardice, and their contempt"; and how she moved from disbelief and self-doubt toward a public stand that helped make her a prominent voice against sexual violence. The book "is truly a gift to every woman in the world, and we should thank her for her courage with all our hearts," says actor Emma Thompson, who narrates the audiobook, per People.
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