The title of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s most celebrated, and first, novel A Woman of Substance could well have been used to describe the author herself.
The 1979 story of a young woman’s journey from rags to riches went from bestseller to super-seller in a year and stayed on the New York Times list for 43 weeks.
Bradford wrote more than 30 further books – again, all bestsellers – amounting to more than 90 million copies bought worldwide and netting her a fortune of more than £100m.
Although she also wrote about male protagonists, Bradford’s speciality was capturing the essence of what it meant to be a strong, determined woman fighting against the odds to succeed.
Her stories were dense and epic – often period family sagas which ran into a book series – full of drama, passion and humanity which consequently made rich material for adaptation.
Several of her novels were turned into TV films or miniseries, many produced by her adored and adoring husband of 55 years, Robert “the General” Bradford.
Remarkably, given how prolific she was, Bradford always wrote in long-hand or on an electric typewriter and claimed almost never to have writer’s block.
She worked long, dogged hours and described herself to the Guardian as “stoical and strong” and with a “backbone of steel,” like her heroines.
She added: “They’re all driven, ambitious and disciplined. I’ve written about myself in every book.”
Bradford was born in 1933 in a suburb of Leeds and was an only child (her older brother died before she was born) doted on by her mother and father, who was an engineer father.
Although the family wasn’t wealthy, the young Barbara was pampered and always impeccably turned out. “I always had a new Whitsuntide bonnet and patent shoes and little white socks,” she recalled in 2006.
And looking good became very much part of Bradford’s larger-than-life adult persona, which was unerringly draped in designer elegance and expensive jewellery. She also developed a keen eye for priceless art.
As for her formation, her mother had high hopes. She encouraged her to read classic literature, such as Dickens and the Brontes, and sent her to private school.
Bradford later fictionalised her parents’ marriage in her novel Act of Will. It was dedicated to her mother, who she said “gave me the greatest gift a mother can give a child, the desire to excel”.
A 2005 biography of Bradford suggested she was indeed descended from lofty stock by way of her mother, who was, it said, the illegitimate daughter of a marquis. Bradford was initially furious at the story, but with time said she’d “come round”.
Bradford’s own writing aspirations began at the age of 10, when her proud mother sent a story her daughter had written to a magazine, and – after it appeared in print, and she was paid for it – she was hooked.
At 15, she joined the Yorkshire Evening Post as a typist, but was soon taken on as a reporter.
“It was because I was such a bad typist and was ruining so much of their expensive paper!” she joked. Nevertheless, at 18 she became the newspaper’s Woman’s Page editor.
By the age of 20, she was a columnist on the London Evening News. “I was very, very driven from the age of 10. That’s what I wanted to be – a reporter,” she recalled in 2019.
The year 1961 turned out to be significant for Bradford after she was roped into a blind date.
The unknown beau was the rich and successful film producer Robert Bradford. He was “movie-star gorgeous,” and it was pretty much love at first sight, she recalled. Two years later they were married and living in New York.
She continued her career in journalism, including covering interior design and lifestyles, before trying her hand at children’s and decorating books. But her childhood desire to write grown-up fiction was still bubbling under the surface.
After several failed attempts at suspense novels, Bradford stopped and took stock.
“I was in my late thirties. I thought: what if I get to 55, and I’ve never written a novel? I’m going to hate myself. I’m going to be one of those bitter, unfulfilled writers,” she said in her 2006 Guardian interview.
That’s when she embarked on the saga-driven journey that made her name, fortune and shaped her life, selling A Woman of Substance to a publisher on the strength of a 10-page outline and 192 pages.
A Woman of Substance took her two years to write, with the original manuscript running to 1,520 pages. It told the story of Emma Harte, the kitchen maid of a wealthy Yorkshire family, who, through grit and fierce ambition, became the boss of a huge retail empire.
Harte was ruthless but also warm-hearted and fair and readers loved her, making the novel a global best-seller. Realising she’d struck gold, Bradford went on produce six further Emma Harte novels, charting her growth and the lives of her children.
Talking about the story’s appeal, Bradford said it had “everything in it… drama, intrigue, money, passion, power and revenge – all of those great human emotions that make for a good story”.
“Woman all over the world told me that Emma Harte was their true role model, and that the book had changed their lives for the better.
“I had set out to simply tell a good story about a strong woman. I hadn’t intended to send a message. But apparently, quite unconsciously I had.
“All I know is that I wrote the kind of story I love to tell about an ordinary woman who becomes extraordinary in living her life a certain way and goes out to conquer the world.”
A Woman of Substance was the first of her books to be adapted for TV. It became an Emmy Award-nominated series in 1985, starring Jenny Seagrove, Deborah Kerr and Liam Neeson.
Two other books from the series were also made for TV, Hold the Dream and To Be the Best.
Bradford revelled in her craft, writing at great lengths with novels often stretching to more than 500 pages.
She wrote multiple stand-alone works yet, with often more ideas about her protagonists and their families than would fit into one book, Bradford produced further series, including The Ravenscar trilogy, The Clarendon Chronicles and The House of Falconer.
The Ravenscar Dynasty (one of a trilogy), is set in Edwardian England, and told through the eyes of its handsome, kind but driven hero, Edward Deravenel, who is locked in a vicious battle for the family business.
“It’s very dramatic and it’s actually a retelling of the Wars of the Roses, but in modern times. I just took the life of Edward IV and told it in modern terms,” Bradford explained to the Daily Express, adding she researched how to kill people with poisons, “so there’s quite a lot of deaths.”
And though the main character is male, the stories also unfailingly follow Bradford’s formula of depicting strong, memorable women within the cast, along with another Bradford ingredient – passion.
“Women always say to me, ‘Don’t stop writing those nice sex scenes.’ But, really, I’m more interested in the protagonist’s character,” Bradford told the Telegraph.
“So, either she’s going to be a wimp, and do nothing, or she’s going to be driven and ambitious. Character is what drives everything forward.”
Accordingly, many of Bradford’s novels had motivational titles such as To Be The Best, Everything to Gain and Her Own Rules.
Robert Bradford played a large role in his wife’s work and, she said, shepherded her career. In addition to making screen versions of his wife’s stories, he liked to be involved in their promotion.
He was the first person to buy a full-page ad on the back page of the New York Times Arts section.
Robert also loved to buy her gifts, most notably jewellery, no fewer than five pieces a year. She also accumulated countless handbags.
When Robert died after having a stroke in 2019, Bradford was totally devastated.
“We were everything to each other,” she said. “But I have to keep going. Bob always thought I was a strong woman. He liked strong women – never had time for those little fragile blondes.”
She had auctioned off some pieces of jewellery in 2013 and, following his death and her move into a smaller apartment, Bradford sold more, saying she just didn’t have enough room.
Eventually, Bradford found some solace by turning to her most-loved original characters, announcing she was writing a prequel to A Woman of Substance, this time focusing on Emma Harte’s great friend Shane “Blackie” O’Neill.
Quoted in the press release for the book, Bradford said: “After my beloved husband, Bob Bradford, died in the summer, Blackie O’Neill came back into my head.
“Bob was by my side at the beginning when I wrote A Woman of Substance,” she said, “and I felt compelled to tell Blackie’s story. The true Blackie O’Neill will be revealed and fans of Emma Harte will be able to live his tumultuous life with him.”
The book was due to be published in November 2020.
Bradford was awarded an OBE in 2007 and recognised as one of 90 Great Britons celebrated in a special portrait to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday.
“I might not always take myself seriously, but I take my work very seriously,” she said of herself.
And to those aspiring to match her at her art, Bradford cautioned: “When people say: ‘I want to write a novel and be rich and famous like you,’ I say: ‘Well, you’re not going to be.’ I say it to shock them. That is the wrong motivation. You should want to do the work so much that nothing else matters. I simply had to write fiction.”