George Chittenden

George began his writing career back in 2005 after reading an Australian best-selling novel that he considered to be awful.  Thinking that he could do better he put pen to paper for the first time and within weeks had discovered his calling in life.  The first manuscript George completed was a science fiction thriller. It was never published but he has no regrets about spending two years writing it.   ‘Learning by trial and error that novel taught me everything that I needed to know’ he says. ‘And much more than I would have ever learnt in a classroom studying creative writing.’

Working as a tour guide teaching Kent’s fascinating history, George decided to switch genres for his next novel.  Growing up in the town of Deal on the Kent coast he had always been fascinated by his town’s history.  In years past Deal had a terrible reputation for smuggling, England’s first example of organised crime.  Local men always survived by plying their trades on the sea. And with its location so close to the continent it isn’t too surprising that tough local fisherman would eventually turn to a much more lucrative way of earning a crust… by bringing contraband over the channel and avoiding the dreaded burden of taxation!  The smuggling trade in Deal grew from strength to strength over the years. Illegal cargoes of liquor and tobacco landed on our shores.   The trade was such a problem in Deal that eventually drastic action was required. The Prime Minister William Pitt the younger sent an army down to the town to deal (excuse the pun) with the problem once and for all.  The soldiers marched along the seafront pouring paraffin over every seaworthy vessel in front of the entire town’s folk.  Moments later those same local people watched their town’s livelihood go up in smoke. If you weren’t a fisherman you were a smuggler.  This drastic action was only ever employed in Deal.  

It was these events that inspired George to begin penning his smuggling series. In 2012 he released his debut ‘The Boy Who Led Them’ which has been read and reviewed by readers from all over the world, it has never received a negative review.   The novel follows the rise and fall of a smuggling gang leader in the town, and was described by Bygone Kent as an absolute page turner they’d highly recommend.  In 2013 the young novelist followed it up with an epic prequel ‘The Boy Who Felt No Pain’ which explores many of the characters from his debuts past. This has never received a review lower than five stars out of five.

George’s latest novel ‘The Man Who Met His Maker’ is the writer’s most ambitious and in his opinion best novel yet.   It’s a dark tale of pirates, greed and revenge that will have the reader engaged until the very last pages.

George is a national award winning tour guide and works for several large tourism organisations, including English Heritage.  He has a head full of different plots in many genres and plans to write novels for many, many years to come.