AS SEEN ON OPRAH AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 The Guardian ' Brilliant Books to Read in 2025'
The Times ' The Critics Picks: 40 Books to Look Out For in 2025' The trial of
Dominique Pelicot which began on 2 September 2024 has captured the world' s attention.
Behind the haunting details of Pelicot' s unthinkable crimes are a mother Gisèle Pelicot
and a daughter Caroline Darian who were forced to rebuild their lives. This is their
story. In November 2020 Caroline Darian received a call from the police in Carpentras. Her
father was in police custody. The seizure of his computer equipment revealed the unthinkable:
since 2013 he had drugged his wife before handing her over in a state of unconsciousness to
men from all ages and stages of life. With exceptional courage Darian recounts the
earth-shattering discovery that a loved one her own father is capable of the worst. But more
importantly she shares the remarkable story of her mother Gisèle and how she carried on living
without self-pity while learning to manage all of the things her husband once took care of.
She shares how her mother managed to maintain her joie de vivre in circumstances none of us
could imagine. Gisèle Pelicot has won acclaim around the world after she gave up her right to
anonymity and opted for a public trial a trial in which Caroline herself has testified
turning the tables: the shame no longer borne by the victims in silence but directed at last
to the abusers. She has also written her own book A Hymn to Life . Together mother and
daughter reveal another side to the violence committed against women as they bravely transform
their private trauma into a collective fight.
