Love on the Dole Review

In this piece of work I am going to review the book ‘Love On The Dole’, written by Walter Greenwood. The story is based in ‘Hanky Park’ which is a fictional place on the outskirts of Salford in Manchester. The novel is written about the old days and describes in great detail struggles that many ordinary working class people face in life. The story in this book tells us of the social issues regarding unemployment and social deprivation.
The story is based in a neighbourhood where residents would help each other where possible, even though many of them did not have a lot to offer. It tells us of the hardworking jobs that children had to do, for a very low wage. Many of the boys got taken on in factories for an apprentice when they were very young but then got laid off as soon as they hit they age where they would have to be paid a man’s wage. After this happened many men faced trouble getting back into work and therefore had to live a life on the dole. As if having to live off the dole wasn’t bad enough they then had to face a ‘means test’. Anybody wanting to go on the dole would have to have an assessment to make sure they were eligible to receive the funding. The whole family would get looked at to see if they had enough money to support them. This meant that in many cases one wage had to be enough to support a whole family. They faced many struggles.
In order for these people to get money to be able to put food on the table and pay their rent to keep a roof over their heads, they had to find ways to collect money. A popular way for people to get their hands on some money was to go to the pawnbrokers and pawning their goods. Many did this every week in order to survive. Pawning items such as husbands ‘Sunday bests’ to old bedding.
The story follows two particular characters, Harry Hardcastle and Sally Hardcastle. Sibling’s who grew up in ‘Hanky Park’ in poverty. Sally sees her chance to escape this poverty and the pawnbrokers rush lifestyle by falling in love