With Ma in bed, Jenny was absorbed in reading yesterday’s newspaper, which Fred had given to her. In the election two days ago the Labour Party had been overwhelmed at the polls. Ramsay MacDonald was Prime Minister of a national government with support from all parties. There had been a run on the pound, and last month income tax had been raised to five shillings in the pound and the dole cut by 10 per cent. This had been just another blow for those trying to survive. The voters had obviously shown their anger about the mess the country was in. And Oswald Mosley’s New Party had suffered a crushing defeat at the polls.

There was a gentle knock on the back door, and Jenny looked up, wondering who it could be at half past ten at night.

The door opened and Ivy looked in. ‘Oh, good, you’re still up, Jen. Ted Roper’s been taken bad, and Agnes and their son, Jimmy, are frightened.’

Jenny was immediately on her feet. ‘I’ll come right away.’

Agnes Roper was ashen-faced with worry, and young Jimmy was standing around gazing helplessly at his father. At fifteen he was a gangling youth and, like the rest of them, too thin.

‘Oh, thank God you’ve come!’ Agnes clenched her hands into tight fists. ‘He’s real bad.’

Jenny rushed over to the man lying on the sofa, still fully dressed. He was holding his chest and gasping for breath, clearly in great pain. She pulled off his boots and loosened his tie in an effort to make him more comfortable. It was cold in the small front room.

‘Bring me a blanket, Agnes,’ Jenny ordered.

‘We ain’t got none. They’ve been popped,’ Jimmy told her.

A multitude of feelings ran through Jenny – pity, sorrow, worry, fear – but the overriding emotion was anger. What was the government doing when people even had to pawn their blankets so that they could eat? She hoped that now the election was out of the way there would be some improvement.

‘I’ll get one of ours.’ Ivy sped off to their house next door and returned almost immediately with a blanket, and her mother, Glad.

She was a welcome sight, and, as Jenny tucked the blanket around Ted, she said to Glad, ‘He needs a doctor.’

‘We can’t afford no doctors.’ Agnes was gazing at her husband and shaking badly. ‘They wouldn’t come out this time of night anyway. And look, Ted’s a bit better now. I think he’s asleep. He’ll be right as rain in the morning.’

‘I’ll make us a nice cup of Rosie Lee.’ Before Glad disappeared into the kitchen, she gave a sad shake of her head to Jenny.

It was obvious what she was saying. Ted Roper had had a heart attack and probably wouldn’t live through the night.