Introduction To a Novel

‘April’s Fools’. Set in the 1950’s with poverty and slum housing still prevalent, to gain money, a father decides to sell his six children, never realising his plan which was really to re-house them, would place them in untold dangers. A young couple, both single parents, find themselves later burdened with many children but with few means to look after them. Already hated by his mother-in-law, penniless and out of work, with a strong desire to be on the stage, Michael, does not let on he was divorced at the tender age of 21, he is already a father by his ex-wife and his lover; and now a child on the way by his fiancée. As the family grows the money dwindles on drink. To gain money and a new home, Michael decides he must sell his six children and offers them for sale in a local newspaper, causing uproar. This results in him being offered a job and cottage, away from the city.