Barbara Taylor Bradford dies aged 91 as tributes paid

Barbara Taylor Bradford, the bestselling author behind A Woman of Substance, has died at the age of 91. The novelist died peacefully at home yesterday, Sunday November 24, following a short illness.

The prolific writer published 40 novels during her career, with her most recent, The Wonder of It All, released just last year. She was often labelled “the grand dame of blockbusters”, with her books selling more than 91 million copies to date, and having been published in more than 40 languages and in 90 countries.

Born in Leeds in May 1933, Barbara was the only child of Winston and Freda Taylor. She started work as a typist for the Yorkshire Evening Post, later being promoted to reporter and went on to become the paper’s first woman’s editor.

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At the age of 20 she moved to London to work on Fleet Street for Woman’s Own and the London Evening News. It was here she met her husband, American film producer Robert Bradford, in 1961, marrying on Christmas Eve in 1963.

The following year the couple moved to New York where they made their family home. The couple were married for 55 years until Robert died from a major stroke in 2019.

Ms Taylor Bradford had started and ditched several novels during her years as a journalist – until she hit the big time with the publication of A Woman of Substance in 1979. The story followed Emma Harte’s journey from life as a servant in rural Yorkshire to heading a business empire, despite numerous personal tragedies along the way.

It became a huge bestseller and the writer became an overnight success. A TV adaptation of A Woman Of Substance followed in 1985, and starred Liam Neeson with Jenny Seagrove playing Emma Harte. It aired on Channel 4 and went on to garner two Emmy nominations including for six-time Oscar nominee Deborah Kerr, who played a grown-up Emma.

Ms Seagrove said: “It’s 1984 and I am about to meet the world-famous legend that is Barbara Taylor Bradford. I have starred in a mini-series made of her bestselling novel A Woman of Substance and it really matters to me that she is pleased. I am a young actress and very nervous.

“The door opens and all I can say is that a powerhouse of glamour and warmth heads towards me, grabs me, hugs me, and says... ‘You are my Emma Harte’. And that was the start of a long friendship with the force of nature that I am proud to call my friend – Barbara Taylor Bradford.

“We saw each other whenever she and her beloved Bob were in London. I did Hold The Dream for them as another mini-series. We shared dog stories – we are both besotted – and talked about everything under the sun.

"She never changed. Success never diluted her warmth and humour or her ability to relate to everyone she met, whether a cleaner or a princess. She never, ever forgot that she was just a girl from Yorkshire that worked hard and made good. RIP dear friend.”

The author later published A Man Of Honour, the prequel to A Woman of Substance, which starts 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 Harte.

Other books also became serials including The Ravenscar Trilogy, which began in the Edwardian era and traced the DeRavenel family’s loves and businesses, The Cavendon series, focussing on the changing fortunes of an aristocratic line, and the Victorian-set trilogy The House of Falconer Series.

Taylor Bradford was made an OBE in 2007 for services to literature. Charlie Redmayne, chief executive of publisher HarperCollins, said: “Barbara Taylor Bradford was 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.

“She was a natural storyteller, deeply proud of her Yorkshire roots – she would regale us of her time working on the Yorkshire Evening Post with fellow reporter Keith Waterhouse and trainee photographer Peter O’Toole, the dawn of the Soho cafe society, and the many happy years shared with the love of her life, her husband, Bob.

“For 45 years, she was a huge part of our company and a great, great friend – we will miss her so much – but there is some solace in the knowledge that she is now, once again, alongside her beloved Bob. A life well-lived...”

Following a private funeral in New York, the author will be buried alongside her late husband at the city’s Westchester Hills Cemetery.