Langley author, a former foreign service officer, releases first in series of novels

Langley resident Ann Gaylia O’Barr may not hop on a plane as often, but she still travels to the farthest reaches of the world. It’s the novels she writes that take her there.

Langley resident Ann Gaylia O’Barr may not hop on a plane as often, but she still travels to the farthest reaches of the world.

It’s the novels she writes that take her there.

O’Barr is well into the writing life after 14 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State, where many of her overseas postings were in the Middle East.

“Singing in Babylon,” published by the OakTara press, is the first in a series of novels that focus on the years from World War II through post 9/11. They narrate the journeys of Americans struggling with personal challenges against a background of global upheaval and cultural conflict.

“I write for entertainment and fun,” O’Barr said, dispelling any notions that she writes to teach or preach.

“I enjoy creating a story, and I love my characters as they grow in the agony of writing and revising, destroying and recreating. Hopefully, a few others will enjoy the story, too, in its final form,” she added.

Although she is Christian, she said she doesn’t sit down to write Christian books.

“I kind of feel much the way Johnny Cash said he felt as a musician who happens to have faith. I’m not a Christian writer, but a writer who happens to be Christian,” she said.

Characters in her first three novels include a university professor of Middle Eastern studies, a student, an English teacher in Saudi Arabia, American Foreign Service Officers, a journalist and an artist.

“‘Singing In Babylon’ began, as most of my stories do, with a few scenes roiling in my imagination, in this case concerning an American woman struggling with life in Saudi Arabia, where she teaches English,” O’Barr said.

“She’s attracted to an American journalist she meets, but is turned off by his arrogance. She’s independent and hates relying on a man, but in Saudi Arabia she can’t even drive. He saves her from boredom, as well as more serious dangers.

“Eventually, in an emotional sense, she rescues him. A secret from his past gnaws at him. As their lives intertwine, this hidden past threatens their relationship, and he must deal with it.”

The novel doesn’t actually take place in Babylon.

“Much of it takes place in Saudi Arabia,” O’Barr said. “Babylon, however, is associated with exile by readers of the Old Testament, and Kate, a Christian, discovers a feeling of exile while teaching in Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, the characters are exiled from their culture, both religiously and socially. Yet, when they return to the U.S., they understand that their values may still place them ‘in exile’ from the culture around them,” the author explains.

Later, on return to America, Kate’s sense of exile continues, even though in the U.S. Kate has freedom to openly worship as she chooses. But her new understanding reveals another kind of exile, that of exile from the values of the culture that surrounds her.

The author, who originally hails from Nashville, Tenn., said that she has always loved to read and write.

“I’m very much more interested in the wider world and in Americans, Christians and others becoming more aware of what’s going on in the world,” O’Barr said in her lilting Southern accent.

“Other cultures of the world have had an influence on my writing a great deal.”

However full of intrigue in foreign places, O’Barr said her stories don’t always end with all the bad guys locked up, or all the evil righted.

“I think, rather, the endings give hope,” she said.

Future releases of O’Barr’s by the same publisher include the novels “Quiet Deception,” a mystery romance set on a college campus following the disappearance of a professor, and “Searching for Home,” the story of an artistically talented woman from Tennessee who travels to the island of Cyprus and meets a U.S. diplomat. They struggle to establish a relationship to escape past losses, despite their differences and a world that becomes increasingly dangerous.

Visit O’Barr’s website with a click here to buy “Singing In Babylon,” to read her blog and to see what else the author has planned for her writing life.