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Makeover Paperback – January 22, 2019
Purchase options and add-ons
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJanuary 22, 2019
- Dimensions5.25 x 0.69 x 8 inches
- ISBN-101912053497
- ISBN-13978-1912053490
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Product details
- Publisher : Fantastic Books Publishing
- Publication date : January 22, 2019
- Language : English
- Print length : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1912053497
- ISBN-13 : 978-1912053490
- Item Weight : 14.7 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 0.69 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #81,156 in Contemporary Women Fiction
- #303,923 in Contemporary Romance (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

I grew up on a farm in Cornwall. I've been a psychiatric social worker, a marital therapist and an Oxford don.
When I retired I settled down to write a novel. It was a shock to find how much more challenging fiction-writing is compared to the non-fiction I'd been producing before - 'Social Work with Psychiatric Patients' 'Current Themes in Psychiatry' and the like.
I was distracted by the lure of the short story. To date I have made it onto half a dozen competition short lists and had one first prize for my story "The Woman who Slept with a Monkey" and have got thirty stories published - genres: humour, dark humour, feelgood and contemporary fiction. Some of them are in two self-published anthologies with Amazon Kindle.
Now I have finished two novels and am working on a third.
The first one, published by Driven Press (2016), is called 'Timed Out'. Set in Cambridge, it is about an older woman looking for love on the Internet and a meaningful way to spend her retirement years. I made use of my own experience doing online dating but it is fiction, not autobiography.
The second one, 'Makeover' (Fantastic Books Publishing), is about a personal shopper and a history professor and it is set in Oxford.
I live beside the river Thames in Oxford and spend a lot of time dining and talking in my College, Green Templeton College.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from the United States
Top reviews from other countries
- Amazon customerReviewed in Canada on March 22, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written and entertaining.
Format: PaperbackVerified PurchaseEntertaining and well written. A worthwhile purchase.
- Stuart AkenReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 10, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Combines the Authenticity of a Memoir with the Imagination of a Novel.
Format: KindleVerified PurchaseInsightful, and based on personal knowledge of the areas covered in her writing, the author explores themes of academic snobbery, domestic abuse, insecurity, and the search for love in an uncertain world.
Having experience in both social care and academia, Barbara brings reality and honesty to this tale of the search for love after loss. There is a core of courage running through the book as well as humour, understanding, compassion, and a bit of sex.
The characters are very real people, friends you’ve met, people you know, but also some who inhabit a world most never enter. I found I could empathise with most. The addict is so well observed and drawn, I even found some connection with him, though such addiction is something outside my experience. I always need characters with whom I can feel the emotions described, I need to care about them. And this book certainly provides that essential connection.
All the way through I was hoping life would change, even improve for those trying to find their way through sometimes complex and often demanding situations. The denouement did not disappoint me.
- A ReaderReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2020
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful clothes make us happy
Format: PaperbackVerified PurchaseGirl meets boy but boy not interested. Can she change his mind and is it a good idea to try? A well-told tale with a nice plot, witty and not entirely predictable. Lots to appreciate including the understanding and compassion shown towards pain hidden in everyday life, as well as the highly satisfactory scene with the taxi driver!
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, enjoyable and also disturbing.
Format: PaperbackVerified PurchaseMy partner, Sallie, read this book I bought for her and had the following comments: "This is the first time I have reviewed a book though I have read many. MAKEOVER is a fascinating, enjoyable though also disturbing read and challenged me around my own assumptions. The plot is full of twists and surprises and lovely bits of humour. I felt myself cringing on behalf of the endearing character, Lucille and became hopelessly engrossed until my long suffering partner urged me to put the book down and talk to him! Can't wait to read more of this author's work."
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 24, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars A moving story
Format: PaperbackVerified PurchaseThe novel is insightful about Lucille's search for a secure, fulfilling relationship - and the challenges in trying to find the right man. Lucille is a well rounded character, and has a compassionate way of interacting with Alzheimer's sufferer Peter Corwood, and Walter's troubled daughter Rosie. I would have liked there to have been more scenes exploring Alzheimer's, as the author realistically captures the complexity of this illness. As a former social worker, the author is well placed to explore domestic abuse in her story - and she captures different perspectives on this subject in a thought-provoking way.