Romford author Jean Fullerton

A COUNTRY boy moving to the big city is not how a move from Romford to the East End would be described nowadays, but for the hero of a new romantic novel set in a very different era, that is exactly what the move means.

Nathaniel Tate, the story’s hero, wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, is introduced as he stops off at the Golden Lion pub, then a busy coaching inn, on his way to the London of the 1840s.

For award-winning author Jean Fullerton, Romford was an easy choice of destination for her character to come from. “I know it really well, I come from Romford and my children went to St Edward’s, as Tate did, although it was obviously a different building then,” she said.

Jean, who won the 2006 Harry Bowling prize for her first novel, No Cure for Love, and was shortlisted for the 2010 Romantic Novel of the Year Award for her second, A Glimpse at Happiness, has had her work described as “gripping historical sagas” and “fantastic, enthralling, and mind-grabbing”.

Having worked as a district nurse in the Romford Clinic, Main Road, Jean now teaches nursing for South Bank University and fits writing in to any available time she has.

“The easiest way for me to make money would have been to take a promotion at work,” she says. “But you write because you feel you have a story to tell and when people read it and tell you they enjoy it or ask when the next one is out that makes it all worth it.”

Perhaps Tomorrow is out on February 3 and is available from Pat’s Books, Romford market, local Waterstone’s and independent retailers, as well as on Amazon.