Gisèle Pelicot Audiobooks

A Hymn to Life: the woman who refused anonymity and made shame change sides

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Who is Gisèle Pelicot?

Until 2024, Gisèle Pelicot was a private French woman, born in December 1952, retired, a mother and grandmother living in the south of France. What made her name known across the world was a decision rather than a misfortune: at the trial of the men who had assaulted her, she waived her right to anonymity and insisted the proceedings be heard in public.

The crimes had been committed over almost a decade by her then husband, who drugged her and invited dozens of strangers into their home, and they came to light only when police examined his computer in 2020. She was under no obligation to be seen. She chose to be, so that the shame would sit where it belonged.

The sentence she gave the world, that shame must change sides, has since travelled far beyond France. She was named in the BBC’s 100 Women, listed by the Financial Times among the most influential women of her year, and appointed a knight of the Legion of Honour in July 2025.

Gisèle Pelicot in audiobooks

A Hymn to Life is her own account, published in 2026 and carrying the subtitle Shame Has to Change Sides. It is the first time she has told the story in her own words and at her own pace, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer and Ruth Diver, and it runs to a little under seven and a half hours.

The audiobook is read by Dame Emma Thompson, and the choice is not decorative. Thompson reads without performance, plainly, letting the facts do their own work, and the effect is closer to being spoken to than read at. It is one of the highest rated recordings you will find in memoir.

Difficult listening, and worth every minute of it. Her audiobook is waiting below.