Ann Godoff, president and editor-in-chief at Penguin Press, has acquired U.S. rights to A Hymn to Life by Gisèle Pelicot from Susanna Lea at Susanna Lea Associates. Stuart Williams, publishing director at The Bodley Head, took U.K. and Commonwealth rights, and Martha Kanya-Forstner at Knopf Canada took Canadian rights. The three editions will publish simultaneously on January 27, 2026, alongside the French edition from Editions Flammarion and in 20 other languages.
The book is the third in roughly as many months to be signed by an English-language publisher that focuses on the lawsuit filed by Pelicot last year against her husband, Dominique Pelicot, and the 50 men accused of her sexual assault. The suit, in which Pelicot waived her right to anonymity, ended with a guilty verdict on December 19, and Summit Books announced that day that it would publish Paris-based journalist and author Monique El-Faizy’s account of the trial, In This Dark Room: Secrets, Shame, and Reckoning at a French Trial. And in February, Sourcebooks announced its acquisition of a memoir by Pelicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian, called I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again, which hit shelves this week.
“I am immensely grateful for the extraordinary support I have received since the beginning of the trial. I now want to tell my story in my own words,” Pelicot said, in a statement. “Through this book, I hope to convey a message of strength and courage to all those who are subjected to difficult ordeals. May they never feel shame. And in time, may they even learn to savor life again and find peace.”
A Hymn to Life, the publisher said, will “tell Gisèle Pelicot’s story in her words, offer solace and hope, and make a positive contribution to changing the conversation around shame and to changing the world.” Godoff added: “Gisèle Pelicot’s story has captured the attention of so many around the world. She is a woman of grace, dignity and courage. A Hymn to Life is a unique document that will inspire and abide.”
