French rape victim Gisèle Pelicot's memoir, 'A Hymn to Life,' will be released next year

PARIS — Gisèle Pelicot, who became a symbol of the fight against sexual violence during the drugging-and-rape trial that riveted France last year and turned her into a global icon, will publish her memoir next year.

"A Hymn to Life' will be published in English, in French and 20 other languages in January 2026, British publisher the Bodley Head said in a statement late on Thursday.

“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,” Pelicot said.

“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,” she added.

Last year, 51 men were convicted year by a court in the southern French city of Avignon which handed down prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years in the shocking case that spurred a national reckoning about the blight of 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’d knocked her unconscious by lacing her food and drink with drugs. The other co-defendant was convicted of drugging and raping his own wife with Dominique Pelicot’s help.

Gisèle 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 stomach-churning homemade videos of the abuse that Dominique Pelicot filmed in the couple’s retirement home in the small Provence town of Mazan and elsewhere.