Author Barbara Taylor Bradford, whose bestselling book A Woman of Substance was adapted into a hit television series, has died. She was 91.
Bradford’s publisher, Harper Collins, stated that she died on Sunday, November 24, after a short illness.
The publisher’s CEO, Charlie Redmayne, described her as a “truly exceptional writer whose first book, the international bestseller A Woman of Substance, changed the lives of so many who read it – and still does to this day.”
Born on May 10, 1933, in Leeds, England, Bradford left school at 15 and started working for the Yorkshire Evening Post as a typist and later a reporter. She moved to London at 20 years old, where she became the fashion editor of Woman’s Own magazine and a columnist for the London Evening News.
By her late 30s, Bradford turned her attention to novel writing, first taking on suspense novels before abandoning that genre. Her debut novel, A Woman of Substance, was published in 1979 and became one of the bestselling novels of all time, selling over 30 million copies worldwide.
A Woman of Substance is the first of a seven-book saga about the character Emma Harte, the fortunes of a retail empire, and the machinations of the business elite across three generations. It was adapted into a British TV series in 1984 starring Jenny Seagrove and was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards.
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Bradford would go on to write 39 other novels, all of which became bestsellers in the U.K. and the U.S. Many were adapted into TV series or movies, including several more in the Emma Harte saga, Hold the Dream (starring Liam Neeson), To Be The Best (starring Anthony Hopkins), Act of Will (starring Elizabeth Hurley), and Voice of the Heart (starring James Brolin).
Her film adaptations include A Secret Affair, Everything to Gain, Her Own Rules, Love in Another Town, and Remember. All of these were produced by her late husband, Robert E. Bradford, who died in 2019.
Bradford continued writing up until 2023, when she released her 40th novel, The Wonder Of It All, as part of her House of Falconer trilogy.
“Dominating the bestseller lists, she broke new ground with her sweeping epic novels spanning generations, novels which were resolutely not romances, and she epitomized the woman of substance she created, particularly with her ruthless work ethic,” her publisher and editor Lynne Drew told the BBC.
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