---

Barbara Harrison is a woman who loves telling stories. She was an avid reader as a teenager, whose interest in the world of imagination was first stirred by the written word. Barbara started with writing scripts for plays and poetry. This love for words, then extended into a passion for acting and bringing the written word to life. As a hopeless romantic, she mostly enjoyed reading books about “true love” and finding a “soulmate”.
As she grew into womanhood, the young Barbara began to realise that sadly, the love stories depicted in “Mills and Boon” novels, were far removed from real life.
In 1988 she married her late husband, Russel Harrison, and they raised two children together. After many marital ups and downs and twelve years of marriage, Russel moved to Florida, USA. This was a huge shock to Barbara and their children, who had no desire to relocate overseas.
For a period of fourteen years. Barbara lived a life of split family on two continents, travelling between America and South Africa.
Tragically, in August 2012, after a mole biopsy on his arm, Russel received news that it had become a melanoma. He recovered well from the surgery to remove the cancer, however, it had spread, and in April 2014 was considered to be stage four and therefore terminal.
Both returned to South Africa in July 2014, where Russ received treatment and they could be with family and friends during that dreadful time. On 1 October 2015, their twenty-seventh wedding anniversary, Russel passed away, leaving Barbara a grieving widow.
Barbara began to slowly move forward again, and as she looked back to take stock of her life, she began to realise that she had spent most of her married life, living her husband’s dream. Although she thoroughly enjoyed being a wife and mother, there had been no ambition, other than the love of acting many years ago, to follow a career.
At the age of fifty, encouraged by two of her friends, Barbara began to write again. Her first couple of endeavours were in the non-fiction world and she did not attempt to publish. One of her friends suggested that she try her hand at writing novels. Another friend greatly believed in her ability to write and constantly encouraged her to keep going, ultimately birthing the book you now hold in your hands.
​

NOVEL

​ Get Out Now!
​The story ‘Get Out’ revolves around the life of a woman called Amber Light, who was
studying for a Fine Arts Degree at Cape Town University. One day she attended an art
exhibition, on the beach in Hout Bay, of a well-known, local artist, Gabe Raine.
Much to her surprise and delight, she meets Gabe in person and falls in love with him
instantly. Amber sees this gifted artist as the most talented, gorgeous and amazing man she has
ever met.
After a whirlwind romance between these two, after only three weeks, with Amber firmly
believing that Gabe is as besotted with her as she is with him, she marries the wealthy and
talented, but ultimately unstable artist. Gabe is unable to deal with his own inner angst and
takes out his emotional distress and unresolved anger issues on his undeserving wife. Gabe
talks Amber into an island wedding in Hawaii, with just the two of them. No other friends or
family present to celebrate this momentous occasion. It did not strike her as odd at the time,
she was just sad to be married without loved ones present.
The story ebbs and flows over time, with dreadful abuse interspersed with events in
Amber’s life which bring her happiness and hope, but also with others which almost destroy
her. She discovers the depths of Gabe’s evil in various ways: his artwork, the incarceration of
his mother in a home for Alzheimer’s patients, his lack of interest in having children, his
possible involvement in his own father’s death and the control he exercises over her life in
terms of finances and isolation.
Their wedding night presented the first occasion when Amber would see a completely
different side to the Gabe she thought she knew. He drank too much and became violent and
angry. They spent the first night of their honeymoon apart, as Amber could not find Gabe when
she looked for him. She sobbed herself to sleep alone in their honeymoon suite while he had
passed out on the beach.
The next morning Amber decided to return home without Gabe, believing that he had
decided he did not want to be married and had left her in anger. Until he arrived at their room
with a red rose, profusely apologizing for his boorish behaviour and begging Amber to forgive
him. They then went on to have a wonderful honeymoon.
After the honeymoon, there is a serious incident of abuse, where Gabe breaks her wrist. As
usual he professes his love for Amber, begs her forgiveness and promises never to do it again.
​Still Amber decides to stay with Gabe and tries to help him heal. They have a couple of
trouble-free years with Gabe taking his medication properly and abstaining from abusing
alcohol. Amber desperately wants the marriage to work and struggles through the many ups
and downs of being married to a mentally disturbed person. To her dismay she discovers that Gabe has stolen all her money. He emptied her entire account of tens of thousands of Rands. She is devastated and finally realises that a normal life and marriage was not ever going to be possible with her insane husband. Amber secretly plans her escape from Gabe. She knows that she cannot openly leave him. Gabe had warned her many times that he would hunt her down and kill her if she ever left him.