A Woman of Substance

Yes, yes, yes, she's gritty, determined, beautiful, nobody's fool, etc etc. Does Ms Bradford have to keep repeating it. I get the picture.

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.

A wonderful novel about the strength and dedication one woman has to pull herself out of poverty and the sacrifices she makes to survive and become powerful in a world and era dominated by men. It is also about the revenge that guides her throughout her life and how she comes to terms with it. It

Show More

is also about destiny and how it always finds a way of coming through. My only negative and the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars, is its length. At a little over 900 pages you really have to love the story to want to see it through, which for me, I felt the author did a wonderful job of making that happen.

Show Less

Took awhile for me to get into it, so glad I kept reading. Love the Emma Harte books!

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

Show More

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 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

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

Show More

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 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

Love this book. Emma is one strong willed woman. Fights her way to top and does everything she can to stay there. I was easily pulled into her world and enjoyed being there through the good times and bad.

I read this book many years ago but remember it so clearly even now. My threadbare copy has been in many of my friends' hands. The Irish accents are so well conveyed that I found myself speaking with an Irish lilt after reading this book. Emma Harte is one of the most memorable characters I have

Show More

ever read about. I don't think any of this author's books comes close to this one. loved it.

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

Show More

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.

Show Less

Emma Harte is an ambitious servant-girl who eventually rises to become a wealthy businesswoman. A little far-fetched at times, but the book was quite readable.

Near 800 pages, but still an easy read. Emma Harte, in 1968, is a very wealthy woman. The book goes back to when she is 15 kitchen maid at the turn of the century, and tells how she gained her wealth, and what she lost along the way

Near 800 pages, but still an easy read. Emma Harte, in 1968, is a very wealthy woman. The book goes back to when she is 15 kitchen maid at the turn of the century, and tells how she gained her wealth, and what she lost along the way