Book: A Hymn to Life: Shame has to Change Sides
Author: Gisèle Pelicot
Published by: The Bodley Head
Price: Rs 899
In October 2020, Gisèle Pelicot was informed by the French police that Dominique Pelicot, whom she had been married to for 50 years, had been drugging and raping her for a decade, while also recruiting men to assault her and filming these depraved acts. Gisèle became the face of women’s justice when she waived her right to anonymity as rape survivor, determined to shift the burden of shame from the victim to her perpetrators. Even though the monstrous details of this crime are widely known, her memoir, A Hymn to Life, is deeply unsettling to read.
Sexual assault cases often push the burden of proof onto the victim, especially in marital rape. But Gisèle’s memoir shows that despite irrefutable proof, she was subjected to insensitive questioning about her consent and complicity (“Are you into swinging?”). What emerges from her memoir is the portrait of a resilient woman in the face of unprecedented brutality and intimidation; her composure in fact contrasts with the anguish of her children who struggle to come to terms with their father’s crimes.
The memoir outlines Gisèle’s life with Dominique and his deviance without being prurient. Following her mother’s death, Gisèle endured an unhappy childhood shaped by a cold stepmother, leaving her vulnerable. She found refuge in a then “shy” and “awkward” Dominique. The narrative moves fluidly between past and present, capturing both the warmth of their early years and the gradual emergence of his sexually coercive behaviour. While Gisèle attempts to understand the origins of his perversion in his abusive father’s household, her reluctance to fully condemn him and hold on to the “happy” memories can feel frustrating. Despite the revelations, she returns home and resumes her ordinary chores — a gesture that reflects the complexity of long-term intimacy. But Gisèle’s refusal to let others define or distort
her story becomes the memoir’s most powerful assertion of life and agency.
