Barbara Taylor Bradford, the ‘grand dame of blockbuster novels’, dies aged 91

Bestselling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, who wrote A Woman Of Substance, has died at the age of 91, it has been announced.

The author died peacefully at her home on Sunday November 24 following a short illness, “and was surrounded by loved ones to the very end”, a spokeswoman said.

She wrote a total of 40 novels during her career, with her most recent, The Wonder of It All, published 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.

She was born in Leeds in May 1933, the only child of Winston and Freda Taylor.

She began work as a typist for the Yorkshire Evening Post before she was promoted to reporter and then went on to become the paper’s first woman’s editor.

At the age of 20 she moved to London and worked in Fleet Street for Woman’s Own and the London Evening News.

She met her husband, American film producer Robert Bradford, in 1961 and they fell in love at first sight, marrying in London on Christmas Eve in 1963.

The following year she moved to New York to live with him.

The couple were married for 55 years until he died from a major stroke in 2019.

Taylor Bradford had started and ditched several novels while pursuing her journalistic career – until she hit the big time when A Woman Of Substance was published in 1979, making her an overnight success.

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 was followed by many other successful books.

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.

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.

Other TV adaptations of her books included ITV’s Act Of Will starring Elizabeth Hurley and Victoria Tennant, and To Be The Best, a sequel to A Woman Of Substance with Lindsay Wagner, Stephanie Beacham and Sir Anthony Hopkins.

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…”

Taylor Bradford also contributed to charity work, including as an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust in the UK and serving on the Board of Literacy Partners in the US.

On X, the trust said: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Barbara Taylor Bradford. She was a passionate ambassador over many years. We are incredibly grateful that her work continues to leave a lasting literacy legacy.”

She was awarded several honorary doctorates of letters in the US and UK, such as the University of Leeds, the University of Bradford, Connecticut’s Post University, and New York institutions Siena College and Mount Saint Mary College.

Taylor Bradford was also on the board of directors of Literacy Partners US, the Police Athletic League and Reporters Without Borders, a patron of the Leeds Library, and the first recipient of Women in Journalism’s lifetime achievement award.

The Yorkshire Society, where Taylor Bradford has been a vice president, wrote that she has left a “wonderful legacy”.

Women in Journalism called her “an inspiration for so many women journalists”.

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