It’s Emma Thompson’s voice you’ll hear when you listen to the audiobook edition of Gisèle Pelicot’s upcoming memoir.
The Academy Award winner will narrate A Hymn to Life: Shame Has To Change Sides, Penguin Random House Audio Publishing announced in a news release. The book is translated by Natasha Lehrer and Ruth Diver.
Pelicot made headlines in 2024 when she decided to publicly identify herself as the victim of serial sexual assaults committed by her husband, Dominique Pelicot, and more than four dozen other men over the course of nine years at her home in Mazan, France. Dominique had invited the men to assault her while she was drugged and unconscious; all were found guilty of crimes related to the rapes in a trial that shocked observers across the world.
During her testimony in court, Pelicot said, “When you’re raped there is shame, and it’s not for us to have shame—it’s for them. It’s true that I hear lots of women, and men, who say you’re very brave. I say it’s not bravery, it’s will and determination to change society.”
Penguin Random House calls Pelicot’s memoir “a moving story of survival, testimony, and courage, and an unforgettable portrait of a woman who broke her silence, reclaimed her voice, and forced a reckoning.”
Thompson, known for her roles in films including The Remains of the Day and Sense and Sensibility, said in a statement, “A Hymn to Life is truly a gift to every woman in the world, and we should thank her for her courage with all our hearts.”
The print and audiobook editions of A Hymn to Life are scheduled for release next Tuesday.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
