Harte Family Saga: A Woman of Substance / Hold the Dream / To Be the Best

Emma Harte Saga #1-3

by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Encompassing Barbara Taylor Bradford’s bestselling novel A Woman of Substance, the Harte Family Saga details the generations of strong women who built an empire, only to have to defend it from threats within their own family.

A Woman of Substance: From the servants' quarters of a manor house on the brooding Yorkshire moors to the helm of a profitable international business, Emma Harte's life is a sweeping saga of unbreakable spirit and resolve. There is only one man the indomitable Emma cannot have--and only one she yearns for.

Hold the Dream: As the founder and head of the indomitable business empire Harte Enterprises, Emma Harte is a woman of purpose. She has sacrificed everything to make sure her granddaughter, Paula McGill Farley, inherits her wealth and her corporation. But Paula has already inherited Emma's unbreakable will, and she has dreams of her own.

To Be the Best: The heiress to Emma Harte's international retail empire, Paula McGill O'Neill has grown to fill her legendary grandmother's shoes. But unbeknownst to her, new threats and old are converging to threaten everything Paula has fought for, and shake the very foundations of her grandmother's legacy.

Genres: Fiction

1945 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Barbara Taylor Bradford was a British-American novelist whose dramatic family sagas and stories of ambitious women made her one of the most commercially successful authors of modern popular fiction. Raised in Leeds, she developed an early love of reading and decided as a child that she would become a writer. After leaving school at sixteen, she began her career in journalism, first working in the typing pool of the Yorkshire Evening Post before becoming a reporter. In her early twenties she moved to London, where she built a successful career as a fashion editor for Woman's Own magazine and later wrote widely syndicated newspaper columns. Although she experimented with suspense fiction, her breakthrough came with the novel A Woman of Substance in 1979, a sweeping story of a determined young woman rising from poverty to great success. The novel became an international bestseller and launched a long series of novels featuring strong female protagonists who achieve success through perseverance, ambition, and business skill. Over the following decades she wrote forty novels translated into dozens of languages and sold in tens of millions of copies worldwide. Several of her books were adapted for television miniseries and films, further expanding her readership. Her work earned numerous honors, including appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her contribution to literature.

Reviews

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 of my all time absolute favourite books from 1 of my all time favourite authors I try to re-read at least once a year :-)

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never in a MILLION years thought I would pick up, and seriously read a Barbara Taylor Bradford book - but when I was young I fell in love with the WOMAN of SUBSTANCE mini-series. After watching snipets of the mini-series on late night LMN, I decided to indulge the romantic 13 year-old in me and purchase the DVD. After watching the television show - I bought the book. And the book was thick with description, fun intrigue and packed with (and I hate to admit this) words I had never, ever been exposed to - so not only do I get pure escape, but I also get to learn some SAT vocab words!

[Cat Couper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never wanted these books to end, The characters became family. This series of 3 had me going through all the "feels" I laughed, I felt the rage she felt, the joy, the pain, I cried numerous times. I would highly recommend this series, the original Trilogy at least.

[Mary]

I didn't like the writing. I didn't finish it.

[Suzanne Stapler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Start the beautiful series with A Woman of Substance then move onto these two other books above and end with A Man of Honor.

[Savi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three long books, the story of a woman overachiever and her family dynasty after her,set mostly in London. I learned a lot, about human behavior and relationship dynamics. I "saw" myself and others in the characters psychological make-up, and in similar situations.(great book for young women, I definately want my daughter to read this(when she's in high school) Great/smart/experience type life lessons.

[Laurie Benoit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only read A Woman of Substance but I really enjoyed it. I read it a long, long time ago.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read the series twice, and the first in the series: "A Woman of Substance" at least half a dozen times while on vacations - always leaving my copy wherever I was when I finished.