Novels and reviews

My first seven novels were published in hardback and paperback in UK and USA by Michael Joseph, Hamish Hamilton, Collins, St Martin’s Press, Harcourt, Flamingo and Black Swan. They are available in the secondhand market, on Amazon and as ebooks on Kindle. I’m now publishing my novels independently.  My recent novels are on Amazon KDP. For all work, see Author Page on http://www.amazon.com/author/SusanBarrett NEW: FLOOD AND FLAME and Other Stories– a novella about life and love ebook and paperback published on Amazon in December 2022 Praise from Tony Anderson, author of Bread and Ashes and other nonfiction titles

I thought the form perfect, the content beautifully done and the writing itself terrific. I completely fell for your characters, all in their different ways, and your account of  lives over many decades rang so true and resounded hugely.

I have to say that the end had me gulping – it was terribly moving.

And if you really aren’t going to write another novel, I’m sure there’ll be more poetry, both on the page and off.

HARRIET NOW AND THEN  eBOOK AND PAPERBACK PUBLISHED ON AMAZON KDP 2022 ELFRIDA NEXT DOOR, 2021 a light, dark tale of mystery and suspense. March 2019, GREEK GOLD, a novel in two parts set in the Pindos mountains of Greece in 1943 and the present day. Frederic Raphel commented: “Susan Barrett’s lively new novel catches the split personality of Greece and the Greeks with such assurance that it could only have been written by someone who has lived in the country and speaks the language, as the author has and does.  I have some knowledge, but not as much as hers, when it comes to the dark, brave days of the war and after, and she never hits a wrong note. An exciting and moving piece of work.  F.R.” In 2016, A HOME FROM HOME ISBN 1537014838, CreateSpace 2016 Paperback print on demand and ebook https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1537014838 Michael Frayn wrote: ‘I enjoyed A Home from Home, and admired Susan Barrett’s imaginative verve and technical skill. The idiosyncratic setting of the care home is very convincing, and sheer multiplicity of the well-characterised staff and inmates is impressive. So are their complex interrelationships and their often surprising and far-reaching backgrounds. She brings off one of the best things that a novelist can do – the creation of a world – and writes about it both vividly and elegantly.’ Michael Frayn A review by Clare Reddaway: “This entire novel takes place in a single day.  The smooth transitions of time and place are so deftly managed that as a reader you do not notice the skilled construction – the sign of a story teller at the height of her powers.  The characters are complex, well-observed and both funny and moving, and the setting, in a care home, is contemporary and relevant.  This novel is a terrific page turner – I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.  I thoroughly enjoyed Home From Home, and recommend it highly.”  Clare Reddaway WHITE LIES ISBN 9781536 806847, CreateSpace 2016 paperback print on demand and ebook https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1536806847 “A beautifully written, sensitive, yet amusing, and intriguing, tale around a subject that is rarely covered in literature. A delight to read.” Amazon customer October 2016 “A beautifully written study of motherhood, loss and what makes us who we are. The characters are deftly drawn and the writer clearly knows her subject. The narrative is expertly woven and fast-paced, delivering pain and joy blow by blow. Sharp and incisive, heartbreaking and so relevant to today.”  Vanessa de Haan MAKING A DIFFERENCE ISBN 1-4251-1004-5, Trafford print on demand 2006 Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LDL81C Published by Trafford POD, www.trafford.com/06-2763 and on Kindle Direct Publishing, www/amazon.co.uk/B004LDL81C

From 1968 – 1988, I wrote seven novels published by mainstream publishers

JAM TODAY ISBN 7181 0664 4, first published by Michael Joseph 1969 Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006GA47MA ‘Goes at a cracking pace.’ Robert Nye, Guardian ‘Pithy and to the point. Beautifully sustained.’ Sheffield Morning Telegraph ‘A jolly romp … I found this hilarious.’ Daily Telegraph

cover design Peter Barrett

MOSES ISBN 7181 0760 8, first published by Michael Joseph 1970 Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006NWR4HG ‘One of the wittiest novels I have read recently.’ Derek Stanford, Scotsman ‘A delightful and amusing little comedy.’ John Whitley, Sunday Times

cover design Peter Barrett

NOAH’S ARK ISBN 7181 0892 2, first published by Michael Joseph 1971 Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006FY5T38 ‘A delightful comedy of manners, astringent enough not to be coy and thoughtful enough not to be frivolous.’ Francis King, Sunday Telegraph ‘Susan Barrett is extremely skilled at comic dialogues, especially in domestic scenes and inter-family conversations.’ Valerie Jenkins, Evening Standard

cover design Peter Barrett

PRIVATE VIEW ISBN 7181 1036 6, first published by Michael Joseph 1972 Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006SHW3Z4 ‘Highly professional and enjoyable.’ Times Literary Supplement ‘Attractively written and above all attractively shaped.’ Evening Standard

cover design Peter Barrett

RUBBISH ISBN 7181 1288 1, first published by Michael Joseph 1974 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006JO1US2 ‘A jolly lark about a nicely complicated felony. …Taking a few swipes at materialistic society on her way, Mrs Barrett contrives some marvellous muddles.’ Sunday Telegraph

cover by Charles Keeping

THE BEACON 0-312-07038-1, first published by Hamish Hamilton 1981 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZA2RUU ‘What lifts The Beacon on to a different plane is Susan Barrett’s understanding of people.’ Martyn Goff, Daily Telegraph

cover design Peter Barrett

STEPHEN AND VIOLET ISBN 0-00-223337-1, first published by Collins 1988 ‘Susan Barrett has a direct style. She writes plainly, without nonsense. Credibility… is stamped on the pages like a visa on a passport.’ Andrew Sinclair, the Times ‘Susan Barrett’s poignant and pleasing novel weaves together the two strands of the journey home and the unfolding narrative of Violet’s life with great economy. She develops her characters with sensitivity and humour.’ Simon Rae, Times Literary Supplement Also children’s books, natural history, travel and memoir with Peter Barrett, and a television play “The Portrait”, produced by London Weekend Television. See also Author Page on Amazon https://amazon.com/author/SusanBarrett and https://amazon.co.uk/author/Susan-Barrett ALIVE IN WORLD WAR TWO, The Cousins’ Chronicle Commentary and memoir, CreateSpace 2016 Paperback print on demand and ebook Creatspace https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/153766032 Reviewed by Marcus Campbell “The Saying Itself: Social History with psychological depth and charm.  Selected passages from the letters of an extended family scattered throughout provincial England, and its colonies, create a fascinating collage that brings the lives of middle-class ‘people like us’ startlingly close. This is social history in the weft and warp. Beneath the family chatter we can clearly detect the forces of national pride, religion – or lack of it – political awareness, humour and stoic endurance, all in homeopathic doses. The book therefore becomes ‘social psychology’ as well as ‘social history’. The collection of partial viewpoints faintly coheres, as with a ‘join-the-dots’ image, into a broader picture. Its very faintness is the hallmark of its reality. As the War grinds on, the letters become starker, more fragmentary. Some of the writers redouble their efforts to be communicative. This is, and feels like, pleasure plus duty. There is a driving force, a bond, but what exactly? And why? We never really know. And nor, clearly, do the writers. What they say is not important, or even unimportant: it is the saying itself that seems to matter. This faint quaint ‘mattering’ Susan Barrett has discovered and presented. She links the letters with passages of explanation and context that are apt, graceful and unobtrusive. It has obviously been a labour of love. Her Family Record is by no means dry. It has the charm and wonder of inscriptions in an old cemetery. Vivid, intimate, exact – and strangely topical, since they spring from days not unlike our own, of unprecedented stress – they touch the heart.” Also children’s books, natural history and travel with Peter Barrett, and a television play “The Portrait”, produced by London Weekend Television. See also Author Page on Amazon https://amazon.com/author/SusanBarrett and https://amazon.co.uk/author/Susan-Barrett