In This Hospitable Land
A Q&A with Lynmar Brock, Jr.Question:Your novel,In This Hospitable Land, was inspired by the true story of a   Belgian family who actually survived the Holocaust while living in the South of France. Tell us   about this family and your discovery of their story.Lynmar Brock, Jr.:Very simply I married one of the little girls. For my own family,   we arrived in 1620 on the Mayflower and in 1682 with William Penn as he set up Pennsylvania and   Philadelphia. Thus I had my family history down very well. But having married a girl from   Belgium who arrived in the US in 1950 I was really interested in her family for my own sake and   as much as for our two sons. I wanted them to know of their mother's story. That was really   important to me. As an aside, our younger son has married a wonderful German girl (woman) and   they have two children. And so I am trying to get her history, for now the "soup" thickens and   after a couple of hundred years of mostly English/Scot/Irish ancestors (with a German g-g-g   grandmother thrown in) the blood lines have been enhanced with all these new genes. Such a   benefit. And to the point, as a young person (b. 1934) I did pay attention to the Second World   War and knew much of what was going on. I remember specifically D-Day, the invasion of Normandy   in 1944. In grade school we all knew what was going on. And so, getting married in 1963, Claudie   and I sat down with her father and aunt and uncle and recorded five hours of conversation about   the war years. For the first time they were willing to share that which they did not for the   rest of the family or others.Question:How much of the novel is fiction and how much fact? Was it difficult to use   factual events in a fictional work?Lynmar Brock, Jr.:Having gotten the family's story from them in 1969-70, then   visiting France to be with the persons who made the survival of the family possible and gather   their stories, I was able to assemble a pretty fair story line with dates in which I have some   real confidence. And as new information came, I could test it against that which I already   knew--the old method of getting two sources for one piece of information.The events are real, enhanced by the history and printed by the participants following the   war and for their own satisfaction. Also, my father-in-law printed several pamphlets at the   university, including citing the 500 sheep missing and the fighting at La Riviere. The events   are real. The one place where I am not sure that Andre was present was the incident of the   killing at Les Puits de Celas. But that event was real. We have visited all the locations cited.   It was easier to use factual events and then work on the  dialogue. As I have said to others, I   don't have their exact dialogue--it was never written down--but I had them say in the novel what   I think they should have said. The dialogue is consistent with my knowledge of both the family   and the many French who were there, who participated in the events and shared with me/us over a   long period of time their feelings and emotions.Question:You were in the U.S. Military before retiring to civilian life and becoming   a businessman. How did your knowledge of military maneuvers influence your writing of this   novel?Lynmar Brock, Jr.:As a result of serving in the peacetime Navy, I know about military   practices which I am sure were practiced by the Germans very effectively. Being in the U.S. Navy   is not fun and games. It is a serious business. Being at the Pentagon in the office of the Chief   of Naval Operations was a very serious business. I was recalled to active duty on our destroyer   in 1961 when President Kennedy activated the reserve destroyers as a result of the raising of   the Berlin Wall. It gave me a military perspective. And yes, I'm glad nobody was shooting at me   during my service.Question:Can we expect other historical fiction from you? What are you working on   now?Lynmar Brock, Jr.:Yes. I have written an historical novel,Must Thee Fight,   the story of a Quaker youth who decided to join the military during the American Revolution   against Quaker teachings and principles. I used the tension I faced when I had to decide whether   to join the Navy or become a conscientious objector. I joined the military. And the true story   is that only one of my Quaker ancestors joined Washington's army or militia. I have written a   third novel, historical fiction,Genevieve, of a Navy officer in the Mediterranean Sea in   the 1950s on a destroyer, meeting a beautiful French girl on vacation and the interaction   between the two and the activity on a ship and the consequences of the relationship. I am now   working on a sequel toMust Thee Fight.The Family That InspiredIn This Hospitable LandClick on thumbnails for larger imagesLa Font, home in the   CévennesThe children bringing wheat in from   the fieldsPart of the Sauverin Family:Front:   Christel, Christian IdaBack: André, Denise, AlexKatie, Ida, Christel, Genevieve,   and Philippeat La FontRose Sauverin, walking up from   Solyrols up to La FontAlex and André shoveling   manure