Gisèle Pelicot’s 'A Hymn to Life' is both a memoir and an act of ultimate defiance
NPR's Book of the Day
NPR
4.2 • 672 Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
In 2024, Gisèle Pelicot waived her right to anonymity as the victim during her own rape case in France, demanding a public trial. Soon after, she became an international feminist icon for her self-sacrifice. In A Hymn to Life, Pelicot recounts the unconscionable horrors she suffered at the hands of her husband and 50 other men—but she also establishes herself as a witness rather than simply a victim. In today’s episode, Pelicot joins NPR’s Michel Martin to discuss her new memoir, and her complex relationship with the hope that remains.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Empir's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. The inherent value to most memoirs is that you hear from one voice, one person, one narrative stripped away from any other outside noise. It's especially valuable when the person writing it is someone at the center of a gigantic and difficult story. Today on the podcast, |
| 0:23.3 | Giselle Pellicoe talks about her memoir, A Hym to Life. If you're not familiar with her story, |
| 0:28.3 | Pelico's husband spent years drugging and raping her and inviting other men to their home |
| 0:33.3 | in France to do the same. It's possible that after her husband's crimes were discovered, |
| 0:37.9 | we would have never heard about it, but Pelico made a decision to make the trial public, |
| 0:42.9 | air it out for all of us to see. She talks about why in this interview with NPR's Michelle Martin, |
| 0:47.9 | and I just want to point out that after all she went through, it'd be completely understandable |
| 0:52.6 | for Pelico to be bitter and angry. |
| 0:55.7 | But this interview is not that. |
| 0:58.6 | It's almost hopeful. |
| 1:01.2 | That's ahead. |
| 1:02.9 | This is Ira Glass. |
| 1:04.6 | On this American life, we look for stories that are surprising, and you won't hear anywhere else. |
| 1:09.6 | Like, for example, this one astronaut who went to the |
| 1:11.7 | moon, you know what he's not into? Space. Was it cool to float around weightless? |
| 1:18.0 | No, no, no. This American life, unexpected stories, wherever you get your podcast. |
| 1:26.6 | In September of 2020, a man was caught filming up women's skirts at a supermarket in |
| 1:32.1 | southeastern France. What happened next would change Giselle Pelico's life forever and make |
| 1:37.5 | headlines around the world. And here is where we need to let you know that this next story |
| 1:42.3 | is about sexual assault. |
| 1:47.7 | Tonight, a story so shocking, it redefines the meaning. |
| 1:58.0 | Dominique Pelico recruited men on an internet site to come rape his drugged unconscious wife. |
... |
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