A Woman of Substance

In the brooding moors above a humble Yorkshire village stood Fairley Hall. There, Emma Harte, its oppressed but resourceful servant girl, acquired a shrewd determination. There, she honed her skills, discovered the meaning of treachery, learned to survive, to become a woman, and vowed to make her mark on the world.
In the wake of tragedy she rose from poverty to magnificent wealth as the iron-willed force behind a thriving international enterprise. As one of the richest women in the world Emma Harte has almost everything she fought so hard to achieve--save for the dream of love, and for the passion of the one man she could never have.
Through two marriages, two devastating wars, and generations of secrets, Emma's unparalleled success has show more come with a price. As greed, envy, and revenge consume those closest to her, the brilliant matriarch now finds herself poised to outwit her enemies, and to face the betrayals of the past with the same ingenious resolve that forged her empire. show less

I love historical fiction, and to my mind there aren't enough that focus on the drama of building a business, so the premise of this appealed to me. It's the rag to riches story of a British woman who went from lowly maid to powerful head of a business empire in the early 20th century when women weren't by and large able to rise to such heights.

However, the writing style here was puerile romance aisle, and far too wretched to make me willing to stay with this for over 900 trade paperback pages. Within ten pages we have such cliched and purple writing as "implacable mouth" and eyes "cold as steel," (Emma Harte's, our heroine--they're green--classic Mary Sue color--as is those of her granddaughter protege--those are "violet.") and loads show more of adverb, adjective and simile prose pile-ups and dizzying point of view shifts. I guess there's something to be said for getting engrossed in a trashy book, but I knew dozens, let alone hundreds of pages of this would drive me insane. show less

Several decades ago Barbara Bradford was a leading author of women’s fiction. Her reoccurring theme involved the struggles women endured throughout the 20th century in their everyday lives. She is quoted (from Wikipedia) as saying "I write about mostly ordinary women who go on to achieve the extraordinary.”

"A Woman of Substance" is the epic story of Emma Harte. The narrative begins in 1968 when Emma is a 78 year old successful multi-millionaire, and owner of several businesses including department stores, clothing factories, and wool mills. She owns several estates in various parts of the world, and is the matriarch of the Harte family with 5 children and 9 grandchildren. Emma is horrified and disgusted to learn that several of her show more children are secretly plotting to take control of her business empire and sell everything. They are more interested in the immediate cash than preserving Emma’s legacy.

Just when Barbara Bradford captures the reader in the height of anticipation and curiosity, the narrative drops back to 1904 when Emma is 14 years old and working as a house servant for a wealthy family in England. Similar to the popular series "Downton Abbey", it depicts a lot of details about life from the servants quarters, and reveals a side of the wealthy residents that was all too often hidden from public view.

At that young age Emma was required to contribute to her low-income families household expenses. She worked 12 days straight and got every other week-end off to go home. Her duties included running errands, scrubbing floors, serving meals, and assisting the ladies of the house to dress for dinner receiving orders from a some-what sympathetic cook and a sadistic butler. She did it all to her own perfectionist standards, but while she toiled she daydreamed of being a woman of wealth and power. Emma always had big dreams, and was determined to make them her reality.

With hard work, self-sacrifice, scheming and planning, intelligent decisions, perseverance, self-confidence, and a little bit of luck, Emma achieves her goals. Her arduous journey encompasses times of gratification and euphoria, as well as loneliness and heart-break.

While a bit idealistic, and overly romantic - and predictable, the plot is still captivating, the writing style wonderful with vivid descriptions of scenery, houses, clothing and the colorful characters. "A Woman of Substance" was published in 1979 and was received with great enthusiasm which inspired Barbara Bradford to write 6 additional novels about the Harte family.

Rated 4 Stars April 11, 2021 show less

This book scratched my itch for reading about people who pull themselves up from their bootstraps and make something of their lives. That said, I did not like the way in which Emma trod on others to get to the top, and the way in which she married such ridiculously wrong men. Overall though, a very engrossing story of one woman's rise to power.

I tried to like this book. I really did. I loved Jennifer Donnelly's The Tea Rose, and a friend recommended this one because it's also a family drama and historical fiction. But the main difference between these two novels is the quality of the writing—Barbara Taylor Bradford's writing style was annoying, frankly. Every description was excessive and flowery (the elegant clothes, rooms, furniture...), and the plot was incredibly predictable. I couldn't feel attached to any of the characters; the main one, Emma Harte, because she was so cold to everyone (and not in a good way like Scarlett O'Hara, who Bradford was clearly trying to channel), or anyone else, because I knew exactly what would happen to them (and which ones would die) as show more soon as they were introduced. Emma's great revenge scene was very anti-climactic, and her supposed "great" romance was a cheap imitation of Scarlett and Rhett (and with GWTW being my absolute favorite everything, that was particularly grating). I slogged through the whole thing because I figured things had to improve after the flowering beginning—and they did, mostly, during the middle when Emma moved away from Fairley Hall to begin making her fortune—but the ending was incredibly disappointing. But I couldn't not read the last 100 pages after reading the first 800! Save yourself the trouble and avoid this one. show less

I read this book years ago. It has stood the test of time and is my all-time favorite book. I have always credited this book as what prompted my love of reading about powerful and strong women. If you have NOT read this book - you simply MUST. If you HAVE read this book - read it again!

It is the rags to riches story of a British woman who goes from working as a simple maid to becoming the powerful head of a business empire in the early 20th century. It is a magnificent novel about the strength and commitment one woman has to pull herself out of poverty and the sacrifices she makes to survive and become powerful in a world and age dominated by men.

It took me a little while to get into this book, some of the passages seem excessively wordy, but once I got into the story, I fell in love. Emma is such a strong, captivating character, you can't help but get wrapped up in her story.