Francis Voignier

A Life Given, a Life Taken Francis Voignier

In this autobiographical work, the author takes his anonymous character through the wasteland of his childhood and adolescence into emotional upheavals, rants, moments of psychological self-evaluation, philosophical forays, and downright despair. It sums up to a tale of resilience in the face of an increasingly demonic reality highlighted by the moral depravation of post-war life in blue collar communities. Without the music in his heart and a guitar as his means of expression, it is unlikely the teenager would have survived the severe alienation suffered at the hand of injustice and abuse, but following an absurd stint in the military, he manages to crawl out of the abysmal depths to rise amid a family of likewise artists in a new country. From then on, it is an exploration of the powers of the self via the many branches of connectivity into the vast unknowns of the soul. Although life isn't always pretty, with dangers lurking in its shadow, all must converge at the fulcrum point of a perfect balance between light and darkness, which without love and trust could never manifest.