PRIMARY school teacher Christian Hatton is following in the footsteps of novelist George Orwell by looking into the future.

Orwell’s masterpiece was the classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Mr Hatton, a supply teacher at Wolvercote Primary School, Oxford, has written his own futuristic thriller in a similar vein.

After growing up in Blackbird Leys, Mr Hatton, 27, attended St Augustine’s School, in Iffley Turn.

He then went to London Metropolitan University, where he studied politics and sociology, before becoming a teacher.

He said: “Since college, I have always had an interest in George Orwell and wanted to write a novel similar to Nineteen Eighty-Four.

“My story, which is called Black Hole and set in 2048, features a civil servant called Steve Morrissey who is asked to investigate financial corruption in an east London borough.

“Morrissey falls for a local femme fatale, who is a prostitute, and it turns out she is working for the Government to spy on him to see how loyal he really is.

“As the novel progresses, Morrissey slips up and the tension mounts.

“One of the key themes of my novel is a recession, so although it is set in the future it is also very relevant to the situation today.

“I’m hoping the up-to-date financial themes will make the book more marketable – one of the sub-plots alludes to the MPs’ expenses scandal.

“I’m aiming to sell 1,000 copies to start with through an online publisher and then I hope the book will be available in bookshops in about six weeks’ time.

“It’s quite difficult to get a publishing deal at the moment, particularly if you are a first-time novelist, but I am hoping my novel will get good publicity and positive word-of-mouth reviews.”

Mr Hatton said he hoped his novel would also encourage people to read George Orwell’s stories and essays.

He added: “Steven Morrissey is a latter-day Gordon Comstock, who is the main character in Orwell’s novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying.

“As well as writing novels, Orwell also wrote political essays, and I think his work still has a lot of relevance today.

“At first Black Hole will only be available through lulu.com but after that it should be on Amazon and available through bookshops.”

Mr Hatton is engaged to be married, but he and his fiancee have not yet set a date.

During the General Election campaign, Mr Hatton took a break from teaching and writing fiction to help campaign for Steve Goddard, the Liberal Democrat’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Oxford East.

Mr Hatton added: “Unfortunately Steve didn’t get elected.

“I have campaigned for him before and it’s interesting knocking on doors and delivering leaflets to voters.”

  • To order Black Hole, visit lulu.com