Judith Barrow,originally from Saddleworth, a group of villages on the edge of the Pennines, has lived in Pembrokeshire, Wales, for over forty years.
She has an MA in Creative Writing with the University of Wales Trinity St David's College, Carmarthen. BA (Hons) in Literature with the Open University, a Diploma in Drama from Swansea University. She is a Creative Writing tutor and holds workshops on all genres.
She says:-
Like most writers I’m a people watcher. Not in a creepy way… well, I don’t think so! But in that way of, “hmm, they could make a wonderful character!” and, “I wonder why they did that? Said that? What’s going on?” kind of way. People are fascinating. As human beings we do and say the most extraordinary things – however mundane we think we are, however boring we believe our lives to be. But it’s the layers of the experiences we’ve all built up from childhood to adulthood that makes each of us interesting. And the way we react to others is fascinating. Not least in the relationships within families. Because where else, in what circumstances, is there such a capacity for secrecy, for deception, for lies, for love, for empathy, for forgiveness? For misunderstandings and misreading of siblings, of parents. It’s intriguing. And no two families are alike – so the scope for creativity is endless. And I love exploring all these aspects.
My last book, Sisters, was published by Honno in January 2023. Two sisters hold a secret that changes both their lives forever. They are torn apart by a terrible lie. In shock after an unbearable accident. Angie lets her sister Mandy take the blame, thinking she's too young to get into trouble. But she's wrong. Mandy is hounded, bullied and finally sent to live with their aunt, where she changes her name to Lisa and builds a new life, never wanting to see her sister again. Angie's guilt sends her spiralling into danger. Thirteen years later, they meet again at their mother's funeral. Lisa starts to suspect something is wrong. Angie seems terrified of her husband, and their father is hiding something too. What does Lisa owe to the family that betrayed her?
The Heart Stone,was published by Honno in February 2021. Set in Lancashire, the story begins as the First World War is declared. The protagonist, Jessie, has realised that her feelings for her friend, Arthur are far more than friendship. Arthur lies about his age to join his local Pals’ Regiment. Jessie’s widowed mother is so frightened, she agrees to marry Amos Morgan, not knowing what a violent and spiteful man he is. When he turns on Jessie, Arthur’s mother is the only person to help her and the two women are drawn together. But Jessie faces a desperate future and must choose between love and safety.
My previous book, The Memory, was published by Honno in March 2020 and is a stand alone book about a woman, Irene Hargreaves, who is the career for her mother. One a dark evening in 2001 Irene stands by the side of her mother's bed and knows it is time. For more than fifty years she has carried a secret around with her; a haunting memory she hasn't even confided to her husband, Sam, a man she has loved and trusted all her life. But now she must act before he arrives home...
Irene and her mother, Lil, are bound to each other by the ghost of Irene's sister, Rose. A little girl with dark hair, a snub nose and an extra chromosome. A genetic hiccup that shaped all their lives. Irene and Sam care for Lil now that dementia has claimed all but her failing body. Irene is at the end of her tether, but if she consigns her mother to a residential home, she and Sam will lose theirs. Irene blames her mother for Rose's death, and will never forgive her.
The Memory was shortlisted for The Wales Book of the Year 2021 The Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award.
The Howarth Family Saga Series
The prequel to the Haworth trilogy, A Hundred Tiny Threads, was published by Honno in 2017and is the story of Mary Howarth's mother,Winifred, and father,Bill. Set between 1910 & 1924 it is a the time of the Suffragettes, WW1 and of the Black and Tans sent to Ireland to cover the rebellion and fight for freedom from the UK. And of the influenza pandemic. It is inevitable that what forms the lives, personalities and characters of Winifred and Bill eventually affects the lives of their children, Tom,Mary, Patrick and Ellen.
The Haworth trilogy begins.
Pattern of Shadows was published by Honno in May 2010. Set in Lancashire during the Second World War, the protagonist, Mary Haworth, works as a nurse at Lancashire prison camp for German POWs and is the main breadwinner for her fractious family. Fraternisation is not allowed, but Mary becomes friendly with Peter Schormann, a POW and a doctor who is seconded to the hospital. But there is ever-present danger in the figure of Frank Shuttleworth, a guard at the camp and persistent admirer of Mary.
The sequel to Pattern of Shadows, Changing Patterns, published by Honno in 2013, is set in 1950/51.The war is over, but for Mary the danger isn't. Mary is living in mid Wales with Peter and working as a nurse, though she knows her job is in danger if the hospital finds out about him. When her brother Tom is killed, Mary is devastated, especially as nobody will believe that it wasn't an accident. Her best friend Jean is doing her best to get Mary to leave Peter and come back to Lancashire. Mary is sure this will never happen, but she has no idea of the secret Peter is keeping from her.
The last of the trilogy, Living in the Shadows, published by Honno in 2015, is set in 1969 and is the story of the next generation of the Howarth and Schormann families. It is a time of Mods and Rockers, the Beatles, flower-power and free love. But for Linda Howarth, Ellen and Ted's daughter, and Richard Schormann, Mary and Peter's son, the shadows from the past return to haunt them.
The eBook, Silent Trauma, published in 2012, is the result of years of research, and the need to tell the story in a way that readers will engage with the truth behind the drug Stilboestrol. So I had the idea of intertwining this main theme around and through the lives of four fictional characters, four women, all affected throughout their lives by the damage the drug has done to them. Their stories underpin all the harm the drug has done to so many women all over the world. The story is fictional, the facts are real.
