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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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A Hymn to Life summary
Gisèle Pelicot
Shame has to Change Sides
21 mins
Brief summary
A Hymn to Life is an evocative exploration of human resilience and the celebration of everyday joy. Gisèle Pelicot delves into the profound intricacies of existence, offering readers insights into leading a fulfilled and meaningful life.
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A Hymn to Life
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A lifetime together, destroyed in seconds
Why would the police summon a retired couple with nearly fifty years of marriage?
That was the question Gisèle Pelicot was asking herself on the morning of November 2, 2020, as she and her husband Dominique made their way to the police station in Carpentras, a small town in the south of France. She did her best to reassure him. This would be only a formality, she told him. Nothing to worry about.
Two months earlier, a supermarket security guard had caught Dominique filming up the skirts of three women with his phone. Police had questioned him and seized his devices — while Gisèle was away visiting their grandchildren. When she found out, she was furious. She told him to apologize to the women, insisted he attend therapy, and made herself clear: if it ever happened again, she would leave him. He promised it wouldn't.
At the station, the officer handling the case, Laurent Perret, saw Dominique first. He then asked to speak with Gisèle alone. His questions were strange. Did they often have people over? What were their social habits like? What time did she usually go to bed? Did she usually nap during the day?
Then he asked whether she and her husband practiced partner swapping. She said absolutely not — she couldn't bear the thought of another man touching her. For Gisèle, sex without emotional connection was unthinkable.
Perret told her he needed to show her some images she wouldn't like.
The first photo showed a woman lying on a bed, completely still — asleep, or possibly dead. A man was on top of her. Gisèle didn't recognize the body. She'd never owned a garter belt. But then Perret asked her to look at the room. She recognized the lamp. The bedside table.
It was her bedroom.
She had no memory of this. She would never have agreed to something like this. And that, the officer explained, was precisely the point. Her husband had been drugging her. According to files recovered from his computer, between 2011 and 2020, Gisèle had been sedated and raped around 200 times by more than 50 different men.
There were hundreds of photos and videos. Gisèle saw a few and asked to see no more.
Dominique Pelicot was arrested on the spot. And in the space of a single morning, everything Gisèle thought she knew about her life was gone.
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What is A Hymn to Life about?
A Hymn to Life (2026) recounts one of the most shocking criminal cases in recent history. For nearly a decade, Gisèle Pelicot was drugged and sexually assaulted by numerous men with the complicity of her own husband. A Hymn to Life follows her personal and legal journey, including why she waived her anonymity and allowed her trial to be held in open court.
Who should read A Hymn to Life?
- Advocates for justice in cases of sexual violence
- Anyone moved by stories of ordinary people who do extraordinary things in the face of unimaginable circumstances
- Readers who believe that speaking the truth, no matter the cost, can change the world
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