Jean Fullerton's Blog
May 13, 2013
Only 10 more days to wait.
Just ten days to go until my latest book, Call Nurse Millie, is released and I have a new website to celebrate.
http://www.jeanfullerton.com/books/ca...
It's 1945 and, as the troops begin to return home, the inhabitants of London attempt to put their lives back together. For 25-year-old Millie, a qualified nurse and midwife, the jubilation at the end of the war is short-lived as she tends to the needs of the East End community around her. But while Millie witnesses tragedy and brutality in her job, she also finds strength and kindness. And when misfortune befalls her own family, it is the enduring spirit of the community that shows Millie that even the toughest of circumstances can be overcome.
Through Millie's eyes, we see the harsh realities and unexpected joys in the lives of the patients she treats, as well as the camaraderie that is forged with the fellow nurses that she lives with. Filled with unforgettable characters and moving personal stories, this vividly brings to life the colourful world of a post-war East London.
Best selling author Lesley Pearce described Call Nurse Millie as 'A delightful, well-researched story
If you've got a moment pop over and take a look at Millie's world.
http://www.jeanfullerton.com/books/ca...
It's 1945 and, as the troops begin to return home, the inhabitants of London attempt to put their lives back together. For 25-year-old Millie, a qualified nurse and midwife, the jubilation at the end of the war is short-lived as she tends to the needs of the East End community around her. But while Millie witnesses tragedy and brutality in her job, she also finds strength and kindness. And when misfortune befalls her own family, it is the enduring spirit of the community that shows Millie that even the toughest of circumstances can be overcome.
Through Millie's eyes, we see the harsh realities and unexpected joys in the lives of the patients she treats, as well as the camaraderie that is forged with the fellow nurses that she lives with. Filled with unforgettable characters and moving personal stories, this vividly brings to life the colourful world of a post-war East London.
Best selling author Lesley Pearce described Call Nurse Millie as 'A delightful, well-researched story
If you've got a moment pop over and take a look at Millie's world.
February 11, 2012
Perhaps Tommorow by Jean Fullerton has been short-listed for the Historical Romance of the Year
I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that, Perhaps Tomorrow, has been shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association's 2012 Historical Romantic Novel Award.
As you can imagine I was completely bowled over when my previous novel, A Glimpse at Happiness, was nominated for the Romantic Novelists' Association's Romantic Novel of the Year in 2010. That's was more than I ever dreamed of so to have a second novel Perhaps Tomorrow also shortlisted is almost unbelievable.
There are four other RNA romantic award categories, contemporary, epic, romantic comedy and young adult and the winner of each category will be announced at the their our Awards Eventin the Gladstone Library on the 5th March.
The winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year will then be selected by a panel of judges from the five RoNA category winners. The winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year will announced and the presentation made at the RNA's Summer Party in May.
Naturally I hope I am the one whose name is pulled out of the envelope as the winner of the Historical Romantic Novel but "Perhaps Tomorrow" is up against some cracking novels;
Highland Storms : Christina Courtenay (Choc Lit)
The Noble Assassin : Christie Dickason (HarperCollins)
Daughter of Siena : Marina Foriato (John Murray)
A Gathering Storm : Rachel Hore (Simon & Schuster)
Whatever the result it's still a thrill to be in the last six for the award and I'm sure it will be a brilliant evening.
As you can imagine I was completely bowled over when my previous novel, A Glimpse at Happiness, was nominated for the Romantic Novelists' Association's Romantic Novel of the Year in 2010. That's was more than I ever dreamed of so to have a second novel Perhaps Tomorrow also shortlisted is almost unbelievable.
There are four other RNA romantic award categories, contemporary, epic, romantic comedy and young adult and the winner of each category will be announced at the their our Awards Eventin the Gladstone Library on the 5th March.
The winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year will then be selected by a panel of judges from the five RoNA category winners. The winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year will announced and the presentation made at the RNA's Summer Party in May.
Naturally I hope I am the one whose name is pulled out of the envelope as the winner of the Historical Romantic Novel but "Perhaps Tomorrow" is up against some cracking novels;
Highland Storms : Christina Courtenay (Choc Lit)
The Noble Assassin : Christie Dickason (HarperCollins)
Daughter of Siena : Marina Foriato (John Murray)
A Gathering Storm : Rachel Hore (Simon & Schuster)
Whatever the result it's still a thrill to be in the last six for the award and I'm sure it will be a brilliant evening.
October 8, 2011
Why I write about the Victorian Period
I chose the Victorian period as it reflects many of the concerns and issues, such as the introduction of new technology, the impact of scientific and medical advances on society, that we have today. It was also a period when centuries of long-held beliefs were being questioned. Slavery was abolished, Catholic’s were emancipated, philanthropists pressured successive governments to improve the working conditions of the poor and women started to challenge the male preserves of education, politics and the professions.
East London, where I was born is a very special place for me and as a fifth generation Cockney I wanted to bring the story of my own ancestors who lived in the vibrant, poverty stricken dockland area to life. My first novel, No Cure for Love, was set in Whitechapel 1832 during a cholera epidemic. The hero was Doctor Robert Munroe, who battled to improve the plight of the poor and the heroine was Ellen O Casey, an Irish pub singer desperately trying to scrap the passage money together to take her family to New York.
My second book, A Glimpse at Happiness, continued the story when Josie O’Casey, Ellen’s daughter returns to England twelve years later in 1844 and my latest, Perhaps Tomorrow, the third in the Wapping series, is set three years after that. The idea for Mattie’s story in Perhaps Tomorrow came to me as I was writing A Glimpse at Happiness as I felt she needed a handsome hero of her own. All the books are linked but can be read as stand-alone stories.
Mattie is a widow struggling to keep the family coal business solvent and herself and her family out of the workhouse which, in a time before the welfare state, was a plight many women found themselves in. The situation was made even more difficult by the fact that women weren’t allowed to own property, operate bank accounts or have dealings with commerce of any kind. Of course, there were always women who fought against the odds and built business empires but they had to work doubly hard to succeed.
And for the women who went before us the daily grind was back-breaking. The day started before dawn when you had to rake the ash from the grate and light the fire before drawing your water from a stand pipe in the backyard. You physically did the washing and scrubbed the floor. Before stainless steel you had to keep you baking dishes clean by scrubbing them with sand. There was a constant battle to keep bed-bugs, cockroaches and head lice at bay, not to mention the mice and rats. In addition to this they had to cope with often a yearly round of pregnancy and the dangers of childbirth but surely the most heart-breaking part of their life must have been coping with the loss of a child which almost every mother in the 19th century would have experienced.
Although Perhaps Tomorrow is a fictitious work I have trawled through research papers and contemporary diaries to bring women’s everyday experiences to life. After reading contemporary accounts of their lives I couldn’t help but admire the hundreds of unnamed women, our great-great-great grandmothers in fact, who worked every hour God gave them to put food on the table and keep a roof over their family’s heads. I hope that way my book shed light on their stories and, in a small way, honours their struggles.
East London, where I was born is a very special place for me and as a fifth generation Cockney I wanted to bring the story of my own ancestors who lived in the vibrant, poverty stricken dockland area to life. My first novel, No Cure for Love, was set in Whitechapel 1832 during a cholera epidemic. The hero was Doctor Robert Munroe, who battled to improve the plight of the poor and the heroine was Ellen O Casey, an Irish pub singer desperately trying to scrap the passage money together to take her family to New York.
My second book, A Glimpse at Happiness, continued the story when Josie O’Casey, Ellen’s daughter returns to England twelve years later in 1844 and my latest, Perhaps Tomorrow, the third in the Wapping series, is set three years after that. The idea for Mattie’s story in Perhaps Tomorrow came to me as I was writing A Glimpse at Happiness as I felt she needed a handsome hero of her own. All the books are linked but can be read as stand-alone stories.
Mattie is a widow struggling to keep the family coal business solvent and herself and her family out of the workhouse which, in a time before the welfare state, was a plight many women found themselves in. The situation was made even more difficult by the fact that women weren’t allowed to own property, operate bank accounts or have dealings with commerce of any kind. Of course, there were always women who fought against the odds and built business empires but they had to work doubly hard to succeed.
And for the women who went before us the daily grind was back-breaking. The day started before dawn when you had to rake the ash from the grate and light the fire before drawing your water from a stand pipe in the backyard. You physically did the washing and scrubbed the floor. Before stainless steel you had to keep you baking dishes clean by scrubbing them with sand. There was a constant battle to keep bed-bugs, cockroaches and head lice at bay, not to mention the mice and rats. In addition to this they had to cope with often a yearly round of pregnancy and the dangers of childbirth but surely the most heart-breaking part of their life must have been coping with the loss of a child which almost every mother in the 19th century would have experienced.
Although Perhaps Tomorrow is a fictitious work I have trawled through research papers and contemporary diaries to bring women’s everyday experiences to life. After reading contemporary accounts of their lives I couldn’t help but admire the hundreds of unnamed women, our great-great-great grandmothers in fact, who worked every hour God gave them to put food on the table and keep a roof over their family’s heads. I hope that way my book shed light on their stories and, in a small way, honours their struggles.
