Gisèle Pelicot, who was raped for years by her husband and dozens of men he recruited online, released her first-person memoir in Portuguese bookstores on Wednesday.
The book, titled A Hymn to Life and published by Portuguese imprint Presença, was co-written with French journalist and novelist Judith Perrignon. Pelicot wrote that she decided to publish her memories to tell her story in her own words, hoping to convey strength to people facing difficult times and encouraging victims never to feel shame.
Pelicot, 73, became a central figure in international coverage of French justice during the landmark 2024 Mazan trial in Avignon, France. The proceedings exposed a decade of drug-facilitated sexual abuse orchestrated by her former husband inside their home in southern France.
Supermarket arrest led to discovery of mass abuse
The central turning point occurred on November 2, 2020, when Pelicot accompanied her husband Dominique to a police station after security caught him filming under women's skirts at a local supermarket. During questioning, a police officer presented her with photographs and videos documenting years of sexual abuse against her.
Pelicot wrote that she failed to recognize the woman in the images, describing herself as a rag doll and recalling that her brain stopped functioning in the officer's room. That description re-emerged during the 2024 court proceedings, where she stated before video evidence of her unconscious assaults that she felt placed between trash and a doll.
Investigators discovered that Dominique Pelicot had secretly administered high doses of sedatives and anti-anxiety medications to his wife over several years. While she lay unconscious, he invited dozens of strangers recruited over the internet to rape her inside their home. Pelicot confessed in the book that it took her a long time before she could use the word rape to describe her experience.
Refusing secrecy so shame would change sides
Although Pelicot initially preferred a private trial, she ultimately waived her legal right to anonymity and requested open court proceedings. Her refusal of a closed-door trial, which judges had offered to protect her privacy, turned the legal process into a globally reported event.
Pelicot explained that shame had to change sides, a statement chosen as the subtitle for the book. She stated that she refused to remain held hostage by the gaze of her attackers, adding that a secret trial would have been a gift that protected the abusers.
She wrote that behind closed doors, no one would learn what happened, no journalist could report the facts, no one could confront the defendants, and no other victimized woman could draw comfort from her testimony. During the trial, Pelicot received thousands of supportive letters and messages from women across the world.
Decades of abuse documented in 20,000 files
French police investigations identified at least 72 men involved in the sexual assaults carried out between 2011 and 2020. However, prosecutors formally charged and tried 51 defendants, including Dominique Pelicot.
The recorded assaults generated approximately 20,000 photographs and video files that were presented as evidence, establishing the case as one of the most detailed and explicit in French judicial history. In December 2024, Dominique Pelicot received a 20-year prison sentence, the maximum term allowed under French law for the charges.
The remaining 50 co-defendants were convicted of rape or other sexual offenses. According to judicial records cited in the text, around two dozen additional men captured on the video recordings were never identified by investigators.
Childhood memories and rebuilding a life
The narrative extends beyond the court case to detail Pelicot's early life in Indre, a department in central France. She recalls the death of her mother when Pelicot was nine years old, as well as the family life she constructed in the decades that followed.
Pelicot wrote that returning to her early memories was an effort to reclaim the identity she held before becoming globally known through the Mazan trial. She described the profound shock of discovering that her nearly five-decade marriage, which included moments she believed were happy, concealed a horrific hidden reality.
Reviewing case files caused severe emotional pain, with Pelicot noting that specific dates hurt as she mentally re-evaluated past family events in light of the police evidence. Following the end of her marriage, she fell in love with a man named Jean-Loup, a relationship she credits as a vital component of her personal recovery.
Confronting her ex-husband in prison
In the concluding chapters, Pelicot revealed her intention to visit Dominique Pelicot in prison despite strong objections from friends and relatives. She stated that she needs direct answers regarding unresolved questions, including whether he abused their daughter Caroline or committed other undisclosed crimes.
She emphasized that visiting her former husband is not an act of forgiveness or weakness, but a final farewell and a necessary step toward her healing. The topic remains sensitive for her family, as her daughter Caroline Darian published a book in 2025 detailing her own suspicions of abuse after police found photographs of her sleeping on her father's computer. Dominique Pelicot denied abusing his daughter.
Pelicot closes her memoir by reflecting that despite the trauma, she has maintained her trust in humanity. She wrote that what she once considered her greatest weakness has now become her principal strength.
