A Hymn to Life

An emblem of resilience for women everywhere

Vogue

Gisèle has challenged the patriarchy everywhere ... She has become a symbol of strength, of endurance, of kindness, of honesty – and we will be forever grateful

Gloria Steinem

The bravest woman in the world ... A powerful and devastating memoir

Daily Mirror

The only writing you should read about Gisèle’s story is her own. If you want a page-turning memoir by a lifeforce, buy it for everyone you know. It may move you to tears, but it will move you to live more

Gina Martin

A Hymn to Life is quite something - a really brave, honest and heart-rending memoir

Sarah Jessica Parker

A deeply moving and courageous memoir ... Her story offers hope, solace, and a necessary contribution to reshaping discussions of abuse and justice ... This memoir is a testament and delivers a promise that victims have no reason to feel ashamed

Women & Home

An extraordinary memoir that inspires courage and compassion, but also crucially demands change … A Hymn to Life is truly a gift to every woman in the world, and we should thank her for her courage with all our hearts

Emma Thompson

I am in awe of Gisèle Pelicot. I have read A Hymn to Life four times. There are many emotions I would have expected to feel as I absorbed the horror of what she was subjected to … What I didn't expect to feel was hope – optimism even – and to have my faith in human nature restored

Victoria Derbyshire

I am moved beyond words by the courage and quiet strength of Madame Pelicot

Kay Burley

Mme Pelicot: what a hero

Natalie Fleet MP, The News Agents

I read A Hymn to Life in two days, I couldn't put it down ... it left me speechless ... [Madame Pelicot has] inspired women across the globe … and created a powerful legacy that will change the narrative around shame, forever

Queen Camilla

[Gisèle Pelicot] is beautiful. I say this not to comment further on her looks but to note her spirit: a palpable sense of freedom, an almost unearthly transfer of optimism to those in her midst

Gaby Wood, Vogue

Mme Pelicot has become a repository of hope and – though it has become a devalued word in the age of Instagram – an inspiration to all women across the globe

Lucy Mangan

Extraordinary … a powerful tale of a mighty woman

Daily Telegraph

Extraordinarily courageous … what makes it so compelling is that it shows what happens when an atomic bomb of cruelty erupts within a seemingly normal family … Her modest humility makes her courage all the more impressive

The Times

A unique memoir by a figure of astonishing power … alive with the kind of detail that wouldn’t look out of place in a good novel ... Pelicot's riveting account of her ordeal refuses to conform to any agenda but her own

Guardian

Extraordinary … vibrates with necessity … A Hymn to Life is novelistic and resounds with grace. The language is precise and vivid; the story reverberates with echoes and patterns … an extraordinary achievement … 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

Financial Times

An utterly remarkable woman

Marie Le Conte

Extraordinary ... Gisèle has completely flipped the narrative that feeds sexual violence ... There is a possibility of joy, and a possibility of harmony, that is really inspiring

Manon Garcia

By waiving her anonymity and refusing to feel shame, Gisèle paves the way for other victims to come forward ... Her extraordinary strength and dignity will have a long-lasting impact on survivors all over the world

Simone Biles

Gisèle, you are extraordinary, you are exemplary … You have changed the dial for all women

Annie Lenox

Gisèle Pelicot has made history … In waiving her right to privacy, Gisèle took a powerful stand for victims of sexual violence everywhere … Her courage and resilience leave a legacy for women all over the world

Billie Jean King

A Hymn to Life documents the story of an extraordinary woman … Very powerful

Nuala McGovern, Woman's Hour

An astoundingly brave memoir

Kristin Scott Thomas

A powerful memoir

Daily Star

A Hymn to Life is not, finally, a book about collapse. Nor is it a story of triumphant overcoming. It is something more complex and necessary: a work about memory, identity, fracture and quiet violence we enact when we demand that survivors perform their pain in ways that make the rest of us comfortable ... What A Hymn to Life ultimately offers is a refusal of that reduction

Irish Times

A Hymn to Life is a reminder of organised narrative’s simple power ... Replete with details of modest domesticity in modern France, A Hymn to Life is also a rousing feminist manifesto ... It seeks a proper transfer of shame from sex-crime victims to their perpetrators, and the perpetrators’ enablers

New York Times Book Review

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

Washington Post

Deeply vulnerable ... 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

USA Today

A heartrending and courageous account of the ultimate betrayal

Kirkus (starred review)

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 ... A commendable heroine

Economist

What a woman … [Gisèle] has more than survived: she has triumphed. In the book, you really do get a sense not just of her courage but of her force of personality and her desire to reclaim her life … incredibly powerful … A Hymn to Life is a good, good book and needs to be read

Off Air with Jane & Fi

[A Hymn to Life] is gripping, it is heart-breaking, it is beautifully written

Lulu Garcia-Navarro, New York Times

With matter-of-fact precision, A Hymn to Life powerfully chronicles the shock of discovering her husband's sex crimes, and the rallying cry that followed

New York Times

This is a book of rare dignity and quiet force ... A profoundly moving testimony – precise, restrained and ultimately life-affirming

Le Monde

Stunning, admirable

Elle

Mme Pelicot's powerful book leaves no stone unturned, detailing her life before, during and after the court case that captured the world. The most incredible takeaway? That she refused to let the horror she endured dampen her faith in people

Grazia UK

A powerful tapestry of Pelicot's life ... At once courageous and grimly illuminating ... Though there is unfathomable horror recounted in Pelicot's memoir, it feels important to note there is more to it than that ... What comes through is not just her preternatural strength but her enduring optimism

iNews

[An] incredibly dignified woman ... It is exactly this position, of being a woman born exactly halfway through the 20th century ... that makes her book particularly fascinating

Sophie Heawood, Unherd

Appalling and uplifting in equal measure. Her account of why she changed her mind about a closed hearing is particularly compelling ... What a remarkable woman

Lady Hale

After decades of betrayal and a trial that made her an icon, Pelicot writes a tender and unflinching memoir about survival, resilience and her decision to be joyful

Elle USA

A paean to dignity in the face of the unspeakable … Gisèle is more of a role model than she knows

Evening Standard

Gisèle's humility and courage elevates A Hymn to Life ... 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

Hadley Freeman, Sunday Times *Book of the Week*

Gisèle’s story, told movingly in her new memoir A Hymn to Life, delves into betrayal, brutality, family fractures and the long, uncertain path toward healing

Mirror

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 … Fearless … It is this indomitable, insubmissive spirit which makes [Gisèle] such a wonder and an inspiration

Independent

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

Sunday Independent

Not only does Pelicot want to use her story to give others strength to stand up to their rapists, she also wants survivors to know that they can rebuild their lives … Finding love and happiness again is remarkable after what destroyed her life

Christina Lamb, Sunday Times

In matter-of-fact, defiant prose, [Gisèle] insists that the way we talk about rape, and they way men talk about women, matters … The memoir is an act of rebellion against what happened ... It is the end of silence, unconsciousness, forgetting, unknowing. It is the start of consciousness; the start of change

Observer

A Hymn to Life is an astonishing book – unflinchingly honest, open to self-interrogation, evocative, determined … Pelicot’s honesty is breath-taking, and it helps make A Hymn to Life all the more revelatory as a sociological document

Sophie Gilbert, Atlantic

[A] brave survival story … essential … the most astonishing aspect is how Gisèle has succeeded in rebuilding herself and, wonderfully, discovering love again … A Hymn to Life is proof of resilience, both hers and humanity’s

Mirror

Gisèle Pelicot is one of my biggest heroes ... I will always keep her words close to my heart: shame must shift to the perpetrators. Thank you for holding your head high

Ashley Louise James

This is a book full of hope, a book that looks towards the future … Gisèle, you are absolutely remarkable … A Hymn to Life is such a powerful read, with a great message

Lorraine Kelly, ITV Lorraine

Inspirational ... Gisèle's courage in telling her story will change women's lives around the world

Sarah Sackman MP

Magnificent ... Gisèle has such an energetic dignity and her book A Hymn to Life is astounding

Deborah Frances-White

In addition to the many lessons Gisèle's book teaches us about the nature and impact of abuse, it also left me with an overwhelming sense of hope ... She has become the face and voice of resistance, bravery and hope

Farah Nazeer, Women's Aid CEO

Gisèle's bravery and determination to use her voice to help others is truly inspiring

Alex Davies-Jones MP