Barbara Taylor Bradford was a prolific author whose debut book A Woman Of Substance is one of the best-selling novels of all-time, having sold more than 30 million copies since its publication in 1979. The writer, who died on Sunday at the age of 91, wrote 40 novels, all of which became best-sellers. Her last book, The Wonder Of It All, was published in November last year.
Advertisement Her books have sold more than 91 million copies and have been published in more than 40 languages and in 90 countries. Taylor Bradford is best-known for the novel A Woman Of Substance (Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA) A Woman Of Substance, the story of a woman who launches her own retail empire after starting out as a maid, was part of her Emma Harte Saga, which spawned eight books, concluding with 2021’s A Man Of Honour. Advertisement The saga was adapted for a three-part TV mini-series for Channel 4 in 1985, starring Liam Neeson with Jenny Seagrove as Emma Harte, it received two Emmy nominations.
A Man Of Honour was a prequel to her debut, which started five years before the original and follows the fortunes of Blackie O’Neill, who leaves Co Kerry for Leeds to build a better life, and meets kitchen maid Emma. Other series include The Ravenscar Trilogy (2006 to 2008), The Cavendon Chronicles (2014 to 2017) and The House Of Falconer (2018 to 2023), and standalone novels such as Love In Another Town (1995). As many as 10 of her novels were adapted for TV, some produced by her husband.