I Love Canadian Authors discussion

I'd like to introduce Diane Ascroft, who has graciously agreed to let us grill her about herself and her book,
Take it away, Diane.

Hi Everyone!

Renee invited me to tell you a bit about me and my novel, Hitler and Mars Bars. I guess I'll start with me (and I've been so longwinded that I'll let my intro spill into a second post) -

I'm a Canadian writer (naturally enough or I wouldn't be 'interviewed' on this group) and I've lived in Britain for almost 2 decades now (in Scotland and Northern Ireland). I've been freelance writing since 2002 - mostly history, arts/music and human interest stories. I particularly enjoy interviewing music personalities and have had the pleasure of chatting with a variety of people including former Bay City Rollers lead singer, Les McKeown and the classical singing trio, The Priests. My pieces have been printed in Canadian and Irish newspapers and magazines including Toronto Star, Mississauga News, Derry Journal, Senior Times and Ireland's Own. Hitler and Mars Bars is my first novel.

I started life in a quiet residential neighbourhood in the buzzing city of Toronto and have progressively moved to smaller places through the years. I now live on a small farm in Northern Ireland with my husband and an assortment of pets. If I ever decide to write my autobiography (I'd have to find a market for it first!) the working title will be ‘Downsizing’.

Ok, that's me - now on to more interesting stuff. I'll tell you a bit about my historical fiction, Hitler and Mars Bars.

Set in war-torn Germany and post-war Ireland the novel tells the tale of German boy Erich’s struggle to survive and to keep his dreams alive when the Second World War throws his world into chaos.

The book evokes an episode in German and Irish history that hasn't made its way into most history texts. Operation Shamrock, a little known Irish Red Cross project which aided German children after World War II, provides the backdrop to the story.

Here's a brief outline of the story (without giving too much away!):
Growing up in a Children’s Home in Germany’s embattled Ruhr area Erich knows only war and deprivation. His beloved mother’s disappearance after a heavy bombing raid leaves him desolate and desperate to find her. After the war the Red Cross transports Erich and his younger brother, Hans, across Europe, with hundreds of other German children, to escape the appalling conditions in their homeland. Erich and his brother find new lives in Ireland but with different families. During the next few years Erich moves around Ireland, through a string of foster families, experiencing the best and worst of Irish life. He finds love and acceptance in some and indifference and brutality in others. When a farmer and his wife welcome him into their loving home and re-unite him with his brother he finds the family he craves. But his brief taste of happiness is dashed by circumstances beyond his control.

Hitler and Mars Bars is the story of a German boy growing up alone in Ireland. He dreams of finding his mother. He yearns for a family who will love and keep him forever. He learns his brother is his ally not his rival. Plucky and resilient he surmounts the challenges his ever changing world presents.

I self published Hitler and Mars Bars about 2 years ago now. Finding a traditional publisher never entered my mind as I had won a book deal with the self publishing company while I was still writing the book.

Although I wrote the book as an adult historical fiction, I've found that it's suitable for the young adult audience as well. But I didn't realise this until I started getting feedback from readers. When they told me that they had read and enjoyed the book then passed it on to their teenagers, I realised that it had wider appeal then I'd anticipated - and I was delighted.

Ok, I've rambled on for more than long enough. The floor's open to your questions or comments.

I'd never heard of any stories, where abandoned German children were taken to Ireland and other countries during WWII. It seems the survival of children is not all that heavily documented. How did you happen upon "Operation Shamrock"?

I found when I was researching Operation Shamrock that the initiative was not well known. There were similar initiatives by other western European countries (including Britain) but they don't seem to figure prominently in history books either.

I heard about Operation Shamrock from a man who had been one of the children who was helped by it. He told me his story and I was fascinated. So I started researching the project. I talked to people in the area where he was fostered and also made contact with some other people who were fostered as part of the programme. I also found a chapter in a book by Cathy Molohan about German-Irish relations 1945-55 but, other than that, there's not much in print. I also got help and information from the Irish Red Cross about the project. The Irish tv station RTE made a documentary commemorating the endeavour.

I stumbled across one man's story of his childhood and it set me off researching an exciting endeavour that I'm still amazed has received so little attention.

Wow, that is really fascinating. I have to look at this more, as my roots are Irish I find the history fascinating. Any history fascinates me really. It's a wonder it's not received any major attention. Kudos to you Dianne for finding and pursuing this.

You've listed some great resources that were available to you, but was it difficult to get the information? How did you get in touch with the Irish Red Cross and RTE? Did you have to do a lot of searching to find these?

Dianne, were you able to talk to any of the fostering families/parents? Or are they all passed on now? How are their stories different from the fostered kids?

I am very glad that you have looked into this aspect of the war and post war. With Ireland being essentially neutral many of the stories associated with it are overshadowed by the horrific battles fought elsewhere but there are interesting stories out there to be uncovered to be sure. My father-in-law was part of the Irish Army during WW2 and although he passed this past winter he did share the odd snippet.

Hi Renee,

You're right - it wasn't easy to find the information I wanted. I did lots of searching to get it. After I talked to the man who had been fostered under the programme, I did a search on the internet for any references to the project - there weren't many. Then I contacted the Irish Red Cross by email (and later letter). Their welfard department provided information for me but they are very busy dealing with current welfare issues and they need more staff to deal with their workload than they have. So sometimes I had to wait ages for replies to my questions but they always came through as soon as they could.

Someone who had seen the RTE documentary on tv (I don't get Irish tv stations on my tv even though I live in Northern Ireland so I'd never heard of the show)told me about it and the same person also found someone who had videotaped the show. So I got a lend of the tape. I did later contact the RTE about a minor detail (about when they began broadcasting) for my story and they were prompt and helpful in answering my question.

In the process of finding people to talk to about the initiative I wrote lots of letters to churches and other organisations in areas where I knew children had been fostered. I asked them if they could put me in contact with people who had been involved in it. In almost every case they were very helpful and older members of the congregations put me in touch with others who could answer my questions. I was very impressed by how helpful people were.

Hi Shannon,

You're right - since Ireland was neutral during both World Wars its stories are often overshadowed by those of other countries. My husband's grandfather was Irish but he served in the British army during WWI. He was also reluctant to talk about his experiences and rarely talked about it.

I didn't get a chance to talk to foster parents as many of them were already gone by the time I was researching for the book. But I did talk to their children - the foster siblings of these German children. I spoke to a few families and got some interesting stories and information. I also spoke to people from the communities where children were fostered. Some of these people were adults at the time so they had clear memories of the era. It is such a shame that no one was interested in the project while the foster parents were still alive - it would have been fascinating to hear how they reacted to having these children in their homes and why they volunteered to foster them. Remember, at that time no one in their villages would have even had any contact with people from other countries. It would have been very different for them to meet someone from halfway across the continent.

I am always amazed that this era has been overlooked and no one has shown any interest in it before.

Wow, that is a lot of work. I'm impressed with your determination. Seriously, there are few who would go to those lengths to get accurate information.

YOu live in Ireland? I'm sooo jealous. That is one of my 'places to visit before I die'. My Grandfather used to go on and on about it when we were little. He and my Grandmother's families both immigrated to Canada from Ireland and always talked about going back. They never did.

I love your title-it's very catchy. Did you have others in mind? Made me google Mars Bars, which were first made in England in 1932 (I'm assuming is about the chocolate.) Your title hints that maybe there's something youthful about your book but also heavy.

Hi Dianne;

You said: "... Although I wrote the book as an adult historical fiction, I've found that it's suitable for the young adult audience as well. But I didn't realise this until I started getting feedback from readers..."

So if you didn't intend it for YA, why did you choose to associate Hitler with mars bars?

Best,
Wally

Hi Renee,

You should come to Ireland for a visit - I'm sure you'd enjoy it. Where in Ireland were your grandparents from? That's a shame they never got home to visit after they emigrated to Canada.

Hi Erma,

Yes, the Mars Bars in the title refers to the chocolate bar. I didn't have any other title in mind for the book. I didn't choose a name for it until I'd finished it. Then I started thinking about incidents in the book and tried to find words or phrases that would refer to something in the book. I threw around a few ideas but that title is the one that grabbed me. Most people are intrigued by it though my husband doesn't like it at all.

I won't give anything away about the story but in post war Ireland (like the rest of Europe) money was tight and, especially in rural areas, there wasn't extra for luxuries like chocolate bars. So a child who could buy a Mars bar was very fortunate.

Hi Wally,

I think that a quirky title can be used for an adult book, not just for YA - as I've said, I wasn't even thinking of the book for the young adult market when I wrote it. I just wanted a title that would refer to incidents in the book and make people curious to read it. As Erma mentioned, it hopefully captures the mix of light and serious material in the book. 'Hitler' and 'Mars Bars' both refer to incidents in the book and it felt like the right title when I thought of it. Invariably it's always something people ask me about so it does get attention.

Is Erich's story largely based on the man you had contact with? Also, as Erich and his brother Hans move around Ireland, are their good and bad experiences taken from actual accounts you researched or is some of it fictional? How much did you actually fictionalize? It must have been so traumatic for these young people, but maybe in the end they were the lucky ones.

Good questions Erma, I always wonder how much fiction is in fiction (or in non-fiction too for that matter).

Hi Erma,

I did rely heavily on my research to write the story - so the incidents in the book are all based on real events. I re-created the scenes in my mind and wrote them as I imagined they would have happened. I did change some details but the basic events are based on facts. Some characters are compositions of several people and others are modelled on individuals. Erich's story did follow part of the real man's life. So you can believe that the story is an accurate account of one Operation Shamrock child's life.

From what I've found in my research, most children had very good experiences in the project but a few weren't as fortunate. Erich experiences a mix of good and bad, depending on the family he's staying with at the time.

Hi Erma,

I just noticed your comment about how traumatic it must have been for the children. Yes, it was traumatic for them but they were the lucky ones as they arrived malnourished and mentally battle scarred and went home (most went back to Germany after 3 years) healthy and happy.

Most of the children formed loving relationships with their foster families and were one of the family by the time they left - many were very upset to leave their foster families when it was time to return to Germany.

Dianne,

With a book like yours, dealing with the human element, mixing up fact makes it all the more real. Did the real Erich read your book? I think it would be of great interest to German publishers.

Shannon, I agree, fiction is almost always mixed in with fact, definitely to some extent (and probably vise-versa). And it's amazing how many novels verge on the autobiographical -- Dostoevsky was epileptic (The Idiot) and a gambler; Pasternak, like Zhivago, was a doctor and cheated on his forever faithful wife; Maugham was a medical student and spent much time in the slums of London (Of Human Bondage). Love them all. But if Lolita is in some way autobiographical, then that's disturbing.

I'm also always fascinated by how fiction and fact are weaved into stories - then I always want to know which parts are fact and which are fiction too (guess I'm a bit nosy!).

I won't even think about the possibility that Lolita might have been at all autobiographical, Erma!

I had wondered whether German publishers might be interested in Hitler and Mars Bars too. A writer friend of mine is thinking of translating it. She lives in Germany and would be able to contact publishers on our behalf (in German - my language skills are lacking) - so we'll see what happens. Newspapers in the Ruhr area did publish articles and reviews of the novel when it was released.

Sorry about the delay in replying this time - this week has just got away from me somehow. The 'to do' list is getting longer rather than shorter...If anyone's interested, I'm interviewed on Mike Angley's (author of the Childfinder Trilogy) blog today at:

http://childfinder.us/2010/05/hitler-...

Drop by there, if you get a chance.