I wrote to help all children living in fear of alcoholics
JON COATES meets an author inspired to create a moving tale for youngsters when she read a traumatic story on the front of the Sunday Express
IT WAS “hearing the key in the lock and not knowing what sort of mood he was going to be in”, says children’s author Jane Elson about growing up with a father who was a heavy drinker. “Sometimes he would just fall asleep in the middle of the room but if Frank Sinatra was blaring out I knew I was in trouble.
“I hated Frank at the time. Now I know what a wonderful singer he is but at the time it just upset me. My dad would either be really happy or in a really dark mood.”
Jane’s children’s book Will You Catch Me? is based on her own experiences of the destructive effects of alcoholism in the family home.
The tale tells the story of a young girl, Nell Hobbs, left to cope on her own with an alcoholic mother who goes on an adventure to find her father.
Jane is using the story to bring attention to Children of Alcoholics Week which starts today and includes a lecture by model and reality TV star Calum Best, son of late football legend George Best, along with Arsenal FC hero Tony Adams and MPs.
Jane, 54, who also wrote the award-winning How To Fly With Broken Wings, was inspired to write the book after reading a Sunday Express front page in June 2017 titled “My Mummy Is Drunk, Please Read To Me”.
This article told of the plight of children across Britain living with alcohol-dependent parents and having to look after and feed themselves. There are 2.6 million children growing up in this country with problem drinker parents today.
“I saw the headline in a newsagents, I was just walking past and it sent shivers up my spine,” says Jane. “I went and bought loads of copies and I sent them to my agent and my editor, saying ‘look’.
“It completely broke my heart because my dad was a heavy drinker and everything that happened at home depended on the mood he was in, but I did have books and we always had food on the table.
“Just imagining what it would be like living with parents who drank, and where you had to worry about having enough to eat. It would be awful.”
Reading the front page story brought all of the harrowing memories of her childhood flooding back which she had “boxed off” and buried. She says writing her “most important” novel has been cathartic.
The former actor and comedy improviser, who runs creative writing workshops for children with special educational needs, grew up in north London in the 1960s with a father who went to the pub after work every day to release the stress of a high-pressured job.
She says: “It was a very different time with a heavy after-work drinking culture for men and many women staying at home. My dad had the loudest laugh of anyone I have ever heard and was always centre of attention. In I remember my mum saying, ‘She is just a little girl’. She could not always stand up for me but she tried. I used to tip-toe around him as I was terrified of waking him up, absolutely terrified.
“I had a game with dice in a plastic bubble so when you press it they spin. I remember waking him up with that and he grabbed it and threw it against a wall.”
Her father, whom she does not want to name to avoid upsetting her elderly mother, could also be cruel when he was intoxicated.
Says Jane: “When he was drunk he used to think it funny to tell me how to spell words wrong, because I was dyslexic.
“He used to grab my ankles and I used to freak out because it really frightened me. When people drink they are not particularly sensitive to other people’s emotions.
“I still cannot bear anyone touching my ankles, I freak out to this day. I really struggle with having shoes fitted as I cannot have anyone touching me.”
Reading was a way to escape and Jane believes she was always destined to write children’s books.
SHE LOVED Black Beauty by Anna Sewell as well as Enid Blyton’s Famous Five stories, saying: “Stories were a way of escaping for me. I was asthmatic and a nervy little girl, so when I was sick a lot I would just curl up under the duvet with my pet bunny Flopsy and just read and read and read.
“It was like a dream getting my first book deal and I remember my editor saying ‘You were always on this path, you just did not know it’.
“My dad had Parkinson’s when I was a teenager so stopped drinking, which is why I term him as a heavy drinker rather than an alcoholic. He passed away about 12 years ago. My mum is still alive, she’s a lovely gentle person and is really happy that I am writing stories for children.
“I have written Will You Catch Me? on two levels, so children not living with alcohol-dependent parents still get a good adventure story, but those who are, I want to reach out to them, to let them know they are not alone.
“If Will You Catch Me? gets one child to ask for help I have done my job, hopefully it will be a lot more and touch a lot more.”
Will You Catch Me? (Hodder Children’s Books, £6.99) is available now.
Writing this book introduced the author to the National Association For Children Of Alcoholics (Nacoa), a charity celebrating its 10th anniversary which counts stars
Elle Macpherson and Belinda Carlisle as patrons. Nacoa has a free 24-hour helpline for children: 0800 358 3456. For ideas of how to help children facing this hidden problem visit coaweek.org.uk/ ways-to-help