Amid recent scholarly biographies of The Bard of Avon, we are now
favored with the inside scoop on another pride of English letters,
Barbara Taylor Bradford.She is not to be confused, despite their
beloved little doggies, with the late Dame Barbara Cartland (or,
despite the evident grandeur and charm as depicted by biographer
Dudgeon, with Dame Edna). Bradford is the manufacturer of popular
novels reaching, purportedly, 75 million copies sold, in 40
languages. Since her 1979 breakout book, A Woman of Substance,
there have been scores more, plus a wave of TV spin-offs, and
still, bless her, she soldiers on. The canon, as seen by Dudgeon,
is not wholly fictional. He traces Barbara's history from her birth
more than 70 years ago, in Armley, Yorkshire. He visits the
settings of her stories, "up the ginnel towards the moor where she
would often play," and bares the models for her engaging
characters. Some speculative true-life parallels are drawn to her
fiction with support from the novelist herself. He climbs her
family tree and shakes loose, on her mother's side, some workhouse
history and illegitimacy (involving, perhaps, a titled gentleman).
Thus the "secret life" of the subtitle. He follows Cartland's rise
from teenage cub reporter in Yorkshire through glamorous, bibulous
Mayfair in the '60s as tasteful fashion editor. Then came marriage
to movie producer Bob Bradford and residence in New York. The Emma
Harte family saga and other books about substantial women followed,
with Bob successfully building the brand and producing the films.
Not omitting well-dressed movie stars, much heather, crisp napery,
candlelight, crenellated castle keeps, strong heroines and pretty
heroes, we are given pertinent extracts in extenso from the
Bradford oeuvre.Aimed, of course, at fans, who will love it. To
those unmoved by the Barbara Taylor Bradford mystique, all this
will, naturally, be of supreme unimportance. (Kirkus Reviews)
A fascinating look at the remarkable life of Barbara Taylor
Bradford, bestselling author of the unforgettable A Woman of
Substance From the cobbled streets of Yorkshire to the sweeping
avenues of Manhattan, Barbara's own story is as dramatic a tale as
any one of her bestsellers. Barbara Taylor Bradford's rise to fame
and fortune was a difficult one. But from an early age her mother
marked her out for glory - at any cost. The drive and ambition
instilled in Barbara were to reap huge rewards. From humble
beginnings in Yorkshire she took London's Fleet Street by storm.
And then, with the creation of Emma Harte, the unforgettable
heroine of her first novel A Woman of Substance, she inspired women
the world over - and became one of the world's bestselling authors.
This is the first time that Barbara Taylor Bradford has been
involved in a memoir of any kind and this unique collaboration has
produced an extraordinary story. For Emma Harte's rise from
Edwardian kitchen maid, single and pregnant, to one of the richest
women in the world uncannily mirrors Barbara's own family history -
something which was as much of a shock to Barbara as it will be to
her millions of fans... Don't miss this incredible story of
suffering, loss and triumph over adversity, a must-read for any A
Woman of Substance fan.
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