A line of pain runs through generations of families... until one generation stops to question the ancestral forces behind the door. In Life & Fable Guislaine Vincent explores archetypal patterns in the ancestral background of her family's storytelling, peeling away the layers to discover a self in myth and fable. As the narrative unfolds, it's the implacable presence of childhood that recurs, not only in events, but in how events reveal the self. Mektoub, my father would say: it is written. From a great grandfather found in the deserts of Syria and named after the monastery that takes him in to the pain of losing a child; from a childhood of 14 schools across multiple countries to training as a Jungian Psychoanalyst, this is a life story that asks deep questions about who we are and how we peel back reality to find the truth in fables. A story of resilience and the epiphany of how powerful it is to have a name.