‘Growing up with Louis Lentin as a father wasn’t easy’

As he releases his debut novel Winter Sun, Miki Lentin recalls the volatile temperament and inner conflicts of his film-maker father, who struggled with his identity as a Jewish Irishman

Miki and Louis Lentin pictured on holiday in Tenerife in 2005

Miki Lentin

My father Louis Lentin died following a massive stroke in July 2014 while on holiday with my mother at Kelly’s Hotel in Rosslare, Co Wexford. He loved that hotel, and stayed there often. He loved the art that decorated the corridors — works by Irish artists such as Louis le Brocquy, Jack B Yeats, Maurice MacGonigal and Daniel O’Neill, all hung with care and attention.

He loved the breeze that would sweep in from the sea on sunny afternoons and warm his face as he nursed a drink in the garden. He loved that the owners and staff remembered him and knew which television programmes he had made recently. They would ask him how he was. They listened. For those few days when he was on holiday, he felt like he belonged and could stay there forever, if they’d let him.