SUMMARY

Telling is all about sharing. There's no point in telling your story if no one will listen. Telling is as much about saying what you did yesterday as it is about explaining what the family was like 250 years ago. Telling is about conveying a story, emotions and a certain style. Telling is as much about writing and weaving a story over months as it is about letting your memories flow at a family meal. Telling is about informing, disseminating and passing on a story, whether it's a need to be satisfied or a duty to be fulfilled... Telling is sometimes about letting the images speak for themselves, when words are too hard to say or you just won't be believed. To tell the story is to give the gift of your memory, which is by its very nature ephemeral. Inspired by numerous encounters and testimonies, this guide will help those whose idea of writing a family history has been germinating in a corner of their mind for a long time, as well as those whose project has already begun or is faltering. It aims to give ideas to those who are short of them, reassure those who are doubtful, guide those for whom it is "the first time they have done this"... starting from the idea that all stories deserve to be told, from the longest to the shortest, from the most beautiful to the most troubled. What those who have done it all have in common is the joy of having achieved something unique and of having received in return, from those close to them, much more than they had hoped for.

AUTHOR

Gwen Guidou: with a degree in project management, she has put her experience as a genealogist, her ability to listen and her taste for the graphic arts at the service of family stories, whether they cover one or several centuries. Her work ranges from transcribing interviews, manuscripts, correspondence and travel diaries to producing a small-print book for relatives. She created the www.brinsdhistoires.com website.