Giselle Pellicot, a survivor of a gang rape by her husband at their home in southern France, has published her memoir of the trial that has made her an internationally renowned figure in the movement to end violence against women.
Giselle Pellicott’s book also recounts her disbelief when the police first show her the rape photos taken by her husband. (File photo/AFP)Le Monde published some extracts from the original French on Tuesday.
Pellicott was drugged with tranquilizers by her ex-husband Dominic Pellicott for a decade, after which she and dozens of men she recruited online.
At the 2024 trial in Avignon that attracted worldwide attention, he rejected the option of holding it behind closed doors, saying he wanted the world to know what he had suffered.
“When I think back to the moment of my decision, I realize that if I were 20 years younger, I would not have had the courage to refuse a closed session,” he wrote in his first-person account, “A Hymn to Life: Shame has to Change sides” in English and “Et la joie de vivre” in the original French.
The book, written with journalist and novelist Judith Pérignon, will be published by Flammarion on February 17 for worldwide publication in 22 languages.
“I was afraid to look, the cursed look that a woman of my generation has always had to deal with,” she explained in a piece published by the newspaper.
“Maybe shame fades more easily when you’re 70, and nobody pays attention to you anymore. I don’t know. I’m not afraid of my wrinkles or my body,” she admits.
51 people, including her husband, were found guilty in a four-month trial.
Her courageous decision to withdraw from closed-door proceedings and her dignity during the hearing contributed to making Giselle Pellicott a leading figure in the fight against violence against women.
The book describes his “vague feelings” before the trial: “The closer it came, the more I imagined myself a hostage to their blindness, their lies, their cowardice and their contempt,” he wrote. “Wasn’t I protecting them by closing the door?”
Her book also recounts her disbelief when the police first showed her the rape photos taken by her husband.
I didn’t recognize the men. Or this woman. Her cheeks were so flabby. His face is so dull. She was like a rag doll.
