Barbara Lorna Hudson celebrates release of her second novel Makeover

Green Templeton College Emeritus Fellow Barbara Lorna Hudson is celebrating the release of her second novel Makeover, which is set in Oxford.

The novel, which has its official release on 8 March to coincide with International Women’s Day, explores the relationship between personal shopper Lucille and Oxford don Walter, a professor at one of the city’s old, traditional colleges. Walter’s best friend teaches at a newer graduate college in Oxford.

Lucille had a turbulent early life and two previous abusive marriages and has battled hard to find her feet. When she meets Walter, there is an instant spark between them but also what appears to be an impassable gulf. However, hard lessons and new opportunities await them both.

Barbara described the novel as part social comedy and part romance, but said the storyline deals with some very serious issues, which is why her publisher has chosen to release it on International Women’s Day.

Makeover, Barbara’s second novel, is released on 8 March

She has already received rave reviews from contemporaries including Brian Sheldon, author of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy and Emeritus Professor of Applied Social Research at the University of Exeter, who said: “A classy, fast-paced but insightful novel about a woman’s search for security after many brickbats in her previous life.”

He added, “The psychotherapeutic scenes are believable and accurate.”

Barbara’s debut novel Timed Out was released in 2016. Described as a contemporary coming of age story, it follows heroine Jane as she questions her choice to put work before love and family. When Jane retires, she decides it’s time to make a change and places a lonely hearts ad, embarking on a new life and the ups and downs that come with it. Timed Out is set in Cambridge, where Barbara studied German and Russian at Newnham College.

Barbara is a former psychiatric social worker and marital therapist who published non-fiction on social work, psychiatry and psychology before reinventing herself as a fiction author.

She has published more than 30 short stories, including The Woman who Slept with a Monkey, which won first prize in the Plymouth Short Story Competition.

Barbara is currently working on her third novel.