The Interview: Bookbag Talks To John Searancke

Sue was impressed by John Searancke's story of his father's war, Prunes for Breakfast and she had quite a few questions for John when he popped into Bookbag Towers.

• Bookbag: When you close your eyes and imagine your readers, who do you see?

The Interview: Bookbag Talks To John Searancke

Summary: Sue was impressed by John Searancke's story of his father's war, Prunes for Breakfast and she had quite a few questions for John when he popped into Bookbag Towers.

Date: 28 October 2015

Interviewer: Sue Magee

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John Searancke: I mostly see my son and my grandchildren, because that is for whom I wrote the book. Behind them stand the serried ranks of all those that did not come back from that war. Perhaps my book could help some families to learn a little more of their own parents. I think that my general readership will be drawn from (inquisitive) young and old alike.

• BB: What inspired you to write the story of your father's war?

JS: That would be my son and his children, my grandchildren. All my elder relatives are all long gone, and it seems important to me to record things in writing so that they may all remember exactly what people like my father went through in order that they might remain free. The cache of family letters inspired me to learn more and to get it down on paper.

• BB: Why did you decide to write a first-person, fictionalised story about your father's war rather than third-person non-fiction?

JS: Both options were open to me, but, after lengthy discussions with my editor, I chose the former. It seemed to me to be a better way of telling the story, and I fell more naturally into it.

• BB: It worked well, John. You mention in the introduction to Prunes for Breakfast that you and your father never really got on. Do you think that his absence in your earliest years affected this and has writing the book laid some of the demons to rest?

JS: I cannot, of course, speak for my father’s feelings, because he never confided them to me, and since I was born in 1943, he was seldom at home unless on brief periods of leave, and I am sure that we looked on each other as strangers for a number of years thereafter. Looking back, I feel so sorry that we did not get on, but I cannot bring myself to understand what I should have done for my part to improve matters – particularly at a distance. I do feel a lightening of the load now that my thoughts and words have been committed to paper in this book.

• BB: You regret not asking questions of your father and other close relatives whilst they were alive. What questions do you wish you'd asked your father?

JS: I was not encouraged to ask questions, and at that age, I was sure that they might not have been well received anyway. It was a time when one did not do that sort of thing. Nevertheless, it is sad that I did not press harder to find out what drove him, what he liked and disliked, and what he had taken from his wartime experiences. I believe in my heart that he had a very good war if that be possible. I have always wanted to know how he went into his father’s business and exactly what he did, and then why he hated it so much after the war ended. On a very personal level, I would have liked to enquire as to the reasons behind his almost antipathy towards me. How did I not come up to his expectations?

• BB: That's such a pity, John. When you read your father's letters to your mother, how did you feel about being discussed by them?

JS: Probably because of my advancing years, I have found no problems in being discussed in the letters. Frankly, I appeared mostly as a sideshow anyway, as readers may discover for themselves.

• BB: That was what prompted me to ask the question! Did what had happened to your father in the war surprise you when you read the letters?

JS: No. as I grew up, I had been made privy to the fact that he had served in the war, captured in Normandy (I mentioned in the book that I had been taken to see the actual orchard in question, whilst I was a child). I suppose that I was surprised at just how many courses he attended and how skilled he must have become. I remember seeing a couple of German bombs in his desk at home, and a German money wallet emblazoned with a swastika. Nobody really spoke of these things afterwards.

• BB: 'Searancke' is a very unusual surname. Could you tell us something about its origin?

JS: Still shrouded in mystery, despite going back very comprehensively to the 1500’s in England. I was once told that my distant relative was the Court Physician to William of Orange, and travelled over to England with him with his fleet; it may be apocryphal. I do know that the family was once the biggest Brewer in Hatfield, owning a major Brewery and a dozen or so public houses.

• BB: You've got one wish. What's it to be?

JS: To live a few more years yet – I want to see my grandchildren grow up and hopefully have time to enjoy them more. If you give me another wish, I want to grow old gracefully with my wife, and die peacefully in my bed, without troubling anybody.

• BB: I think we can allow you the extra wish, John. What's next for John Searancke?

JS: I propose to overwinter relaxing by completing the family tree. I am back to the 1500’s so far. I have 'met' a lot of distant far flung relatives, particularly those in New Zealand, whom I had not even heard of. Sadly, nobody has cropped up yet that can give me much insight into my parents. After that, I shall be starting work on another book! I love writing!

• BB: Thanks for chatting to us, John - we hope you enjoy the winter.

You can read more about John Searancke here.

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