Social Issues
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A Hymn to Life: Shame has to Change Sides
The sexual assault that rocked the world. A courageous woman’s rallying call for ‘shame to change sides’. For the very first time, Gisèle Pelicot tells her story.
‘An emblem of resilience for women everywhere’ VOGUE
‘The bravest woman in the world’ DAILY MIRROR
** A best book to look out for in 2026 in The Guardian, Telegraph, Financial Times, Observer, Daily Mirror and BBC **
One November day, Gisèle Pelicot was called to a local police station and life as she knew it ended. Her husband of fifty years had been caught by a supermarket guard filming up women’s skirts. But on his computer was shattering evidence: for nearly a decade, he had been secretly drugging and raping her and inviting dozens of strangers into their home to abuse her.
Four years later, he and fifty other men were put on trial and Gisèle’s courage in waiving her right to anonymity made global headlines. ‘Shame must change sides,’ she declared, giving voice and hope to millions. Her words became a rallying cry and her decision marked a turning point in public feeling about sexual violence.
For the first time, and with unwavering honesty and grace, she describes a difficult childhood, first love, her career and motherhood. It is a life in determined search of happiness, both before and after her devastating discovery. She is an ordinary person who faces extraordinary catastrophe, whose example changes the world.
Ultimately, Gisèle Pelicot emerges with a renewed passion and reverence for living, and for love. A Hymn to Life is an unforgettable testament and promise: that victims have no reason to feel ashamed; that even after unimaginable betrayal we can go on; and that colour will always return to life.
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From £9.49A Hymn to Life: Shame has to Change Sides
From £9.49 -
Attensity!: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement
‘Pay attention: If you are human, you must read this book’ Jaron Lanier
We all feel it: something is seriously wrong. Our attention―that essential ability to give our minds and senses to the world―is being trapped, gutted, and sold out from under us by an industry of immense technological and financial power. The heedless exploitation of this vital capacity by a handful of tech companies is harming us all, reducing our very selfhood to that which can be quantified, bought, and sold―and shaking the foundations of our democracy.
To push back against this ‘human fracking,”’we need more than individual willpower or isolated efforts. We need a movement of collective resistance. Such a movement is beginning to bloom, and in this radical, first-of-its-kind guide, The Friends of Attention show us how to join the fight. We meet welders, nurses, poets, and surfers, all of whom are engaged in attentional practices. We learn to seek out sanctuaries―theatres and museums, houses of worship, dance parties―where together we can take refuge from the frackers. Drawing on a rich legacy of critical intellectuals and the creative wisdom of diverse traditions, Attensity! takes our apocalyptic present, turns it on its head, and reveals new vistas of human flourishing.
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From £16.21£20.00Attensity!: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement
From £16.21£20.00 -
Later Life Letter: A Story of Family, Adoption and Love
‘Luke wright and this time it’s personal. But seriously, a highly original idea, expertly carried out’ JOHN COOPER CLARKE
‘I was bawling from the first page and gulped it down in one swift swallow’ HOLLIE MCNISH
‘When it comes to poetry, performing and family Luke Wright is a lifer. Read this book’ LEMN SISSAY
‘A beautiful, brilliant collection. I defy you not to be moved’ BRIAN BILSTON
What is a later life letter? Written by a child’s social worker to be opened at an appropriate age, it details their journey from birth to adoption. When Luke Wright received his as a teenager, he didn’t think much of it. But now, married to a social worker and seeing the care she takes with these letters, he re-examines his own past – and the life he might have had.
Should he feel close to the biological brothers he knows only through social media? Do his beginnings in a notorious tower-block estate counteract the privilege of a sheltered suburban upbringing? How grateful should he be to adopted parents who are – in the end – simply parents?
In this memoir in poetry, no emotion is simple or expected. Wright writes with pinpoint honesty, teasing out the nuances of family, memory and belonging, and illuminating the gaps in the familiar beats of an adoption story.
‘A really remarkable, deeply moving book . . . full of pain and puzzlement and love and reconciliation’ RICHARD CURTIS
‘Made me laugh, cry, think and shudder’ PETE DOHERTY
‘Intimate and universal, epic and singular. Beautifully written’ JOELLE TAYLOR
‘A genius poet – funny, profound, life-changing’ JOHANN HARI
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From £12.99£14.99Later Life Letter: A Story of Family, Adoption and Love
From £12.99£14.99
