Barbara Wood Writer Of Prophetess Adventure Fiction On Exotic Lands

Barbara Wood is a novelist who also writes under the pen name of Kathryn Harvey. Till date Wood has written twenty-two novels and is currently busy with her twenty-third work of fiction. Woods novels have found their way into best selling lists of many countries and have been translated in around thirty languages.

Barbara Wood was born in Warrington, England but eventually migrated with the family to the United States. After graduating from high school, Wood enrolled in the University of California at Santa Barbara with a major in French. However she left college and took a year off to travel before training as a surgical technician.

Barbara Wood worked as an operating room assistant for nearly ten years before she decided to make writing a full time career. Her first novel to be published was Hounds and Jackals which found its way to literary agent Harvey Klinger after being rejected by other publishers. The same year in 1978 she sold two other manuscripts The Magdalene Scrolls and Curse This House. Klinger continues to be Woods agent till today.

Barbara Wood has written three novels under the pseudonym Kathryn Harvey. The first among these was Butterfly which was followed by the sequel Stars and most recently, the novel titled Entrance. These works of fiction are in certain ways different from the novels written under the real name and the pen name thus becomes a signifier of literary difference.

Most of the novels of Barbara Wood are located exotic lands and feature different cultures. At the center of many a narrative is a young woman who strives to follow her own path even as she is caught up in the whirlwind of adventure and romance. Some of her novels also reflect Woods training in the surgical field and her interest in healing and medicine while others like Childsong and Prophetess indicate her own Catholic background.

The historical fictions of Barbara Wood are based on extensive research which ranges from books to newspapers, periodicals, internet, personal interviews as well as opinions from experts in the field. In fact, Wood makes it a point to visit the particular country whose culture or history forms the setting of her novel. When not writing, Wood immerses herself in the books of other writers. Some of her other interests are needlepoint, collecting dolls and miniatures as well as watching movies of Jackie Chan. Barbara wood