Hymn to Life

Gisèle Pelicot was named as the most noteworthy person of 2024 in an opinion poll in France, eclipsing world leaders, and was honoured by Time. To mark International Women’s Day, the Independent named her the most influential woman of 2025. Her case contributed to the national debate on sexual violence in France, which led to a change in the legal definition of rape.She has been awarded the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest civic honour.

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