A LOCAL author's novel set in Ellesmere Port and Chester has published in paperback and e-book.

Destined To Be Brothers by Robin A Hatton tells a story of two boys born in Chester maternity hospital in 1948 from different parents, at the exact same moment. From that time there is a psychic connection that exists between the two. From birth to death, the two enjoy a bond as close as any real brothers. At an early age they share a life changing event, resulting in a promise made between best friends having to be fulfilled.

Set in Ellesmere Port and Chester, the book mentions a number of familiar places to give it a local theme and covers the boy’s lives until the end.

Mr Hatton has lived in Ellesmere Port all his life. He worked in the oil industry for 42 years, travelling widely for many of the earlier years and retired in 2016.

Although Destined To Be Brothers is fictional, one event in the book is taken from Robin’s own life. Aged eleven, while on a school sailing holiday in the Norfolk Broads, he fell into the cold lake and came very close to drowning. He recalled his thick woolly jumper knitted by his mum especially for the holiday, absorbed the water and held him down below the water line. Even now, he remembers the physical sensation of desperately gasping for air as his lungs filled with cold water.

The book's front cover is a picture of Robin in 1954, taken by his late mother outside their family council home in Sutton Way, Ellesmere Port.

Robin said he was grateful to his wife, Enid, for all her support and patience during the many hundred of hours while drafting the book and time spent in front of the computer. He is also grateful to his sisters Gillian and Wendy for their encouragement and ideas on cover design.