Lay Gently on the Coals, a fictional family saga, set in The Boroughs in Northampton, on the eve of the Second World War, is a sardonic account of a family at war, its trials and tribulations. The family of ex-Sergeant Jack Fulthorpe struggles to make ends meet. His is a mixed marriage - Jack is a Protestant, his wife Margaret a devoted Roman Catholic. On Friday nights there is the ritual of welcoming home the breadwinner with his paypacket. The evening meal is invariably interrupted by the local parish priest, calling to collect the family's weekly contribution to the Poor Relief Fund. The...