{"product_id":"a-hymn-to-life-shame-has-to-change-sides","title":"A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eGisèle Pelicot\u003c\/b\u003e was named as the most noteworthy person of 2024 in an opinion poll in France, eclipsing world leaders, and was honored by \n\u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e. To mark International Women's Day, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/i\u003e named her the most influential woman of 2025. She was recently awarded the Legion of Honor, France's highest civic honor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Pelicot has written a memoir of sexual violence, not as a victim or a survivor, but as the site of the crime . . . Every scandal, every public horror, leaves in its ashes those same acrid questions: Who knew? Who averted their eyes? What Pelicot does, brilliantly and subtly, is to ask the question most avoid -- not who, but \n\u003ci\u003ehow\u003c\/i\u003e? With a kind of coolness and deliberation that feels aided by age, she explores the mechanisms by which one can become so practiced at turning away unwanted knowledge. And she is at her most devastating when she presents what she still cannot face . . . The book in our hands is the product of a woman wresting back control of her mind, newly sensitive to its workings. Her efforts to understand herself feel like an offering, even a blueprint.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eParul Sehgal, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Gisèle Pelicot's new memoir, \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e, is a reminder of organized narrative's simple power . . . Replete with details of modest domesticity in modern France, \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life \u003c\/i\u003eis also a rousing feminist manifesto . . . It seeks a proper transfer of shame from sex-crime victims to their perpetrators, and the perpetrators' enablers.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eAlexandra Jacobs, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Staggering . . . A lyrical book about monstrous events, a compelling exploration of what it feels like to hold two existences in your brain at once . . . There is only whatever you do to put one foot in front of the other. There is only what it takes to survive.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eMonica Hesse, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e\"A Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e is an astonishing book--unflinchingly honest, open to self-interrogation, evocative, determined . . . Pelicot's honesty is breathtaking, and it helps make \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e all the more revelatory as a sociological document.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eSophie Gilbert, \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A work of sophisticated integration: Pelicot shifts between the ongoing investigation and her memories of childhood, youth, and married life. The two tracks regularly converge as she pauses to consider a distant memory in light of her new knowledge. Pelicot's account of the marriage must inevitably be a story about her own misjudgment. She takes possession of this devastating central fact with calm authority, her narrative voice a fitting counterpart to her much-noted composure at the trial. 'Beyond the pain of the revelations and the shame of my body being turned into a sack, ' she writes, 'there was also the shame of having understood nothing.'\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eElaine Blair, \u003ci\u003e The New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"It may be tempting to skip Gisèle Pelicot's account of the case that collapsed her 'simple, little life' and protect yourself from the horrors she endured. Don't succumb to that impulse. Pelicot presents her story like a well-organized crime novel, detailing the twin tragedies of her life--her mother's death when Pelicot was 9 and her husband's 2020 arrest for drugging her and filming dozens of men raping her over the course of 10 years--with a cool focus and unflagging energy . . . Pelicot does not spare the details of the case . . . By attempting to put the unimaginable into measured, precise language, Pelicot reveals a primal need to tell her story as she experienced it, and illustrates a grace in accepting that some contradictions cannot be untangled.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eJulie Kosin, \u003ci\u003eNew York Magazine \u003c\/i\u003e(Book Gossip)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Deeply vulnerable . . . It's all told from the vantage point of a woman trying to make sense of her life in the face of devastation, sometimes grasping for signs that only hindsight can uncover . . . Yet for all the monstrousness revealed in Pelicot's story, her steadfast courage and optimism that she will persevere acts as a buoy, reeling the reader back with her own sense of hope for the future when, many times, her retellings of her abusers' cruelty turn unbearable.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Searing, unforgettable, and strangely beautiful . . . \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e challenges preconceived notions of 'appropriate' responses to both sexual violence and disbelief. It tells the story of how a woman held two opposing truths in her hands--the peaceful existence she led by day and the horrifying violence she was unknowingly subjected to by night--in order to piece her shattered life back together in the face of one of the most heinous sexual-abuse cases in modern history.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAir Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The memoir is extraordinary--a deeply moving, oddly beautiful account of her life, her marriage, and, ultimately, the events that forced her to reconsider it all. This book is not a story of victimhood--it is one of triumph. Picking up the pieces of the life she thought she had lived shattered, Pelicot attempts to move on with the pain of the knowledge what has happened to her, determined to hold onto her penchant for joie de vivre. In \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e, she reclaims her own voice, resisting the patriarchal system that allows abuse to exist in the first place . . . the ultimate act of defiance.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLitHub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A heartrending and courageous account of the ultimate betrayal.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Vibrates with necessity . . . \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e is novelistic and resounds with grace. The language is precise and vivid; the story reverberates with echoes and patterns. It is an extraordinary achievement to write a book this controlled while confronting complication and contradiction . . . Pelicot recounts a lifetime with all its longing and pain. There is beauty, love, hope. And there is rage, loss and fear of the void beneath her feet . . . Many could be enriched by this alertly human account of 70 years of life. Here is a perspective that is full, candid and instructive.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e is alive with the kind of detail that wouldn't look out of place in a good novel, but it's the expression it gives to something glimpsed at during the trial that makes it so singular; namely, the transformation of Gisèle Pelicot from a self-avowedly ordinary woman, \"content with my little life\", into a figure of astonishing power.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Stirring . . . What could be a dark and depressing chronicle propels forward with the force of Ms Pelicot's quiet courage and instinct for self-reflection . . . Ultimately, Ms Pelicot offers a cautiously hopeful message about how people can overcome trauma to forge a new life . . . Her ordeal began with questions--yet it ends with unresolved questions, too. Even the most worthwhile stories do not always offer satisfying answers. But they can provide a memorable and commendable heroine.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEconomist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This book could easily be a catalogue of horrors, and to some degree it is. But what makes it so compelling is that it shows what happens when an atomic bomb of cruelty erupts within a seemingly normal family. The book's translators, Natasha Lehrer and Ruth Diver, have done an excellent job of capturing Pelicot's tone of determined control and occasional broken anguish as she attempts to understand how the gentle young man she married became one of the world's most notorious rapists and abusers, without her even noticing.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e (UK) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"In matter-of-fact, defiant prose, [Gisèle Pelicot] insists that the way we talk about rape, and the way men talk about women, matters . . . The memoir is an act of rebellion.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eObserver \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eA paean to dignity in the face of the unspeakable . . . Gisèle is more of a role model than she knows.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A living testament to a woman whose spirit will not be broken . . . Gripping . . . A redoubtable woman with a remarkable mind, who writes throughout with clear-headed, self-possessed precision. She lets the story speak for itself . . . Not a single word is wasted or unnecessary . . . It is this indomitable, insubmissive spirit which makes [Gisèle Pelicot] such a wonder and an inspiration.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIndependent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This is a book of rare dignity and quiet force . . . A profoundly moving testimony - precise, restrained and ultimately life-affirming.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLe Monde\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The figurehead of a worldwide movement . . . A feminist icon . . . Gisèle has proven herself to be someone with the inner strength to rise when faced with adversity.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSunday Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Gisèle's story, told movingly in her new memoir \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e, delves into betrayal, brutality, family fractures and the long, uncertain path toward healing.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMirror\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e\"A Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e is quite something - a really brave, honest and heart-rending memoir.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eSarah Jessica Parker\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An extraordinary memoir that inspires courage and compassion, but also crucially demands change . . . \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e is truly a gift to every woman in the world, and we should thank her for her courage with all our hearts.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eEmma Thompson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eTHE INSTANT \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER - Named a Best Book of 2026 So Far by \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A rousing feminist manifesto.\" \u003ci\u003e- The New York Times Book Review \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Staggering . . . a lyrical book about monstrous events, a compelling exploration of what it feels like to hold two existences in your brain at once.\" \u003ci\u003e- Washington Post \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Deeply vulnerable.\" \u003ci\u003e- USA Today\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe 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.\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 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 to radically transform public sentiment and legislation surrounding cases of sexual violence. By the time Dominique and the dozens of men accused were found guilty three and a half months later, Gisèle had become a global figure, and her message--that she and other victims of sexual abuse have no reason to feel ashamed--galvanized a movement that triggered protests and demonstrations around the world. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life\u003c\/i\u003e, Gisèle tells her story for the very first time, not as victim, but as witness. Beginning in 2020, when she received the first phone call from a local police station, Gisèle recounts the fateful investigation that turned her life inside out. 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, \n\u003ci\u003eA Hymn to Life \u003c\/i\u003eis 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/15\/2026 (EAN 9798217181322, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Penguin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496117895446,"sku":"9798217181322","price":38.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9798217181322.jpg?v=1783053439","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/a-hymn-to-life-shame-has-to-change-sides","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}