Roots, shoots and stories

 My husband Martin has already published a book about his father's life before he came to Scotland in 1946 ( Jan Stepek: Gulag to Glasgow  ).He is now writing a sequel to that book detailing his life in Scotland as a well known businessman and father to ten children. Martin was therefore fortunate in that he had his many siblings to ask for memories and information about his dad. Lots of conversations took place that filled gaps in the story of his dad's life as the siblings each recalled personal and shared memories of a father who had been through so much. Martin's eldest brother John was living in Portugal and so their 'conversations' took place over e-mail. John was also the one with the most knowledge about their father for two reasons. One, he was the eldest and two, he was the successor to his father as managing director of the family business and so dealt with him on a daily basis. In one of these e-mails early in 2023, John had written, "I don't kn...