Barbara Lamplugh is the author of two travel books, 'Kathmandu by Truck' and 'Trans-Siberia by Rail'. Both describe journeys she made in the 1970s. Throughout the '80s and '90s, writing continued to be an important part of her life in the time squeezed between bringing up two children and working in the voluntary sector in Shropshire. Pursuing a long-held ambition, she moved to Granada, Spain in 1999. There, along with teaching English and working as an editor, she turned to journalism. She became a regular features writer for the UK magazine 'Living Spain', contributing around a hundred articles on different aspects of life in Spain. She has also been published in other magazines and newspapers, including The Guardian. 'Secrets of the Pomegranate', set in Granada, is her first published novel. In October 2015 it was awarded the B.R.A.G. medallion. 'The Red Gene', to be published by Urbane in April 2019, is both a love story and a historical saga.