Horror giant Stephen King has become the latest in a long line of novelists to settle on the defining moment that was the 1963 assassination of US president John F Kennedy as his inspiration.

King's next book, due out in November, will be titled 11/22/63 – the date Kennedy was shot dead while travelling in an open-topped presidential limousine in Dallas, Texas – and will feature a time-travelling Maine schoolteacher, Jake Epping, who tries to prevent the killing.

Epping's era-hopping habit begins when he learns that his friend, Al, who runs the local diner, is harbouring a portal to the year 1958 in his storeroom. Al enlists Jake on a mission to try to prevent the assassination of the 35th president of the United States by returning to the days of Elvis, James Dean, big cars and root beer. Jake duly makes the journey, and finds himself meeting not only troubled loner Lee Harvey Oswald, but also a beautiful school librarian, Sadie Dunhill, set to become the love of his life. But will Jake succeed in his attempt to change history? And if so, what will happen next?

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