Novel · Albums · Legacy
Forty Years of Silence
A woman’s testimony transformed into a literary and musical work — seeking to understand coercive control, preserve memory and pass a story on without turning it into a lesson.
Origins
A story entrusted after forty years of silence.
Jeannine did not tell her life story so that others could judge it. She spoke so that what had remained unspoken would not disappear with her.
The project grew from the memories she shared late in life. Her son received them, placed them in perspective and searched for a form capable of respecting their complexity. This is neither a case against someone nor an instructive tale. It is a human journey in which gestures, silences and their consequences speak before any analysis.
Her singular story opens onto a universal question: how does someone begin to speak again after years of coercive control, and what do we choose to pass on when silence finally breaks?
The novel
Twenty chapters to retrace a life without closing it off.
The narrative follows Jeannine from childhood to the moment her voice is reclaimed. Reunion Island, family bonds, attachment, coercive control and strategies of survival are experienced from within, in a sensitive language that leaves the reader room to respond.
Give priority to scenes, gestures and dialogue.
Retain the moments of happiness, the contradictions and the hesitations.
Present speaking again as a journey, not as an instant release.
The narrative album
Seven tracks, three languages, one journey.
Each song carries one stage of the story further. The French, English and Reunion Creole versions are not simple translations. Each seeks its own colour, breathing space and cultural closeness.
Le silence avait quarante ans
French album
Lo silans té néna karant an
Reunion Creole album
Forty Years of Silence
English album
The musical prelude
A song before the story unfolds.
The Shadow of Love · Your Breath Is Your Greatest Treasure
Conceived as the project’s musical prelude, The Shadow of Love opens a passage through breath, shadow and listening. It does not summarise Jeannine’s story; it carries its inner movement between silence, memory and the possibility of reclaiming a voice.
Editorial compass
Illuminate, never prescribe.
Connect without generalising
Allow Jeannine’s experience to resonate with other lives without erasing her time, her social world or Reunion Island.
Leave room for the reader
Do not close every scene with a conclusion. Allow each reader to form their own interpretation.
Never excuse violence
Show the dynamics of attachment and coercive control without confusing understanding with justification.
Pass the story on with discretion
Protect what is intimate while allowing these words to become a possible point of reference for other generations.
A project in progress
Follow each stage of its creation.
In development
Novel
A literary work built around Jeannine’s story.
In development
Narrative album
Seven tracks, conceived in French, English and Reunion Creole.
Available to stream
The Shadow of Love
Discover the project’s musical prelude.
Listen to the prelude →Writing, music production, performance, images and partnerships: the Journal follows the project as it develops, sharing its choices and encounters.