Barbara Taylor Bradford

Barbara Taylor Bradford (born 10 May 1933) is a best-selling British-American novelist. Her debut novel, '' A Woman of Substance'', was published in 1979 and sold over 30 million copies worldwide. She wrote 39 novels, all bestsellers in England and the United States.

Writing career

In her youth, Barbara read Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters, Thomas Hardy, and Colette. At age ten she decided to be a writer after sending a story to a magazine. She was paid seven 7 s 6 d for the story, with which she bought handkerchiefs and a green vase for her parents.

Barbara left school at 15. She became a reporter for the ''Yorkshire Evening Post'' after working briefly in their typing pool. While a reporter, she worked alongside Keith Waterhouse.

She moved to London at the age 20 where she became the fashion editor of ''Woman's Own'' magazine, and later a columnist for the ''London Evening News''. She later wrote an interior decoration column syndicated to 183 newspapers.

Her first fiction writing efforts were four suspense novels, which she later abandoned. Taylor Bradford would subsequently describe "interviewing herself", saying that "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."

Her debut novel, ''A Woman of Substance'', became an enduring best-seller and, according to Reuters, ranks as one of the top-ten best-selling novels of all time. It was followed by 38 other novels, all bestsellers in England and the United States.

Taylor Bradford's works have sold more than 92 million copies worldwide in more than 90 countries and 40 languages.

Taylor Bradford considers Irish historian and author Cornelius Ryan her literary mentor. Ryan encouraged her writing and was the first person (other than her mother) to whom she had confided her literary ambitions. Her favourite contemporary authors are P. D. James, Bernard Cornwell, and Ruth Rendell.

Recurring plotlines and common themes

A common pattern in her novels is a young woman of humble background rising in business through years of hard work, often involving enormous self-sacrifice. As Taylor Bradford is often quoted: "I write about mostly ordinary women who go on to achieve the extraordinary."

Film adaptations

Ten of Taylor Bradford's books were made into television mini-series and television movies, produced by her husband Robert E. Bradford.

Five of her television adaptations were rereleased on DVD in the UK in September 2008 by Acorn Media UK:

* ''A Woman of Substance''
* ''Hold The Dream''
* ''To Be The Best''
* ''Act of Will''
* ''Voice of the Heart''

''A Woman of Substance'', ''Hold The Dream,'' and ''To Be The Best'' were reissued on DVD by Acorn Media in the US in May 2012. ''Act of Will'' and ''Voice of the Heart'' remain available on DVD in the U.S. through Infinity Video.

Personal life

Barbara Taylor was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, EnglandBarbara Taylor Birth Index
Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2005 database on-line. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office. to Freda and Winston Taylor. Her father Winston was an engineer who lost his leg serving in the First World War.

Taylor Bradford's biographer, Piers Dudgeon, uncovered evidence that her mother Freda was the illegitimate daughter of Frederick Robinson, 2nd Marquess of Ripon, a local Yorkshire aristocrat. Freda's mother was a servant of the Marquess. Dudgeon informed Taylor Bradford that her grandmother and the Marquess had three children. After some hesitation, Taylor Bradford allowed Dudgeon to publish her biography. Although initially angry at Dudgeon's discovery, she later said that "I came round. There's no stigma now." Her grandmother later spent time in a workhouse. Taylor Bradford explored her ancestor's workhouses in the ITV television series ''Secrets of the Workhouse'' (2013).

Barbara's older brother Vivian died of meningitis before she was born. She later described her mother as having "put all her frustrated love into me." Her parents' marriage is fictionalized in her 1986 novel ''An Act of Will''.

Barbara and fellow Yorkshire writer Alan Bennett attended the same nursery school in the Leeds suburb of Upper Armley. As a child during the Second World War, she held a jumble sale at her school and donated the £2 proceeds to the "Aid to Russia" fund. She later received a handwritten thank-you letter from Clementine Churchill, the wife of Prime Minister Winston Churchill.