Barbara Taylor Bradford

Barbara Taylor Bradford was an Anglo-American novelist. She is best known for her debut novel, A Woman of Substance (1979), which sold over 30 million copies worldwide. She wrote 40 books, often focusing on young women who succeed in business through determination.

Her books have been translated into 40 languages and have sold over 90 million copies. Ten of her books have been adapted for television. She was awarded an OBE for her literature services.

Barbara Taylor was born in Armley, Leeds, on 10 May 1933 to Freda and Winston Taylor. Her father was an engineer and a veteran of the First World War. Her older brother died of meningitis before she was born. She was educated at Christ Church Upper Armley CofE Primary School.

As a child during the Second World War, she held a jumble sale at school and donated the proceeds to the Aid to Russia fund. She later received a letter of thanks from Clementine Churchill.

Taylor read widely as a child, enjoying books by Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters and Thomas Hardy. At the age of ten, she decided to become a writer. She submitted a short story to a magazine and was paid 7s 6d. She used the money to buy handkerchiefs and a green vase for her parents.

Barbara left school at 16 and joined the Yorkshire Evening Post. At 18, she became the paper's first female editor. At 20, she moved to London and worked as a columnist and editor for national newspapers. She later wrote an interior design column that was syndicated to 183 newspapers.

Taylor attempted four suspense novels before turning to historical fiction. She later recalled: "I was in my late thirties. I thought: what if I'm 55 and I've never written a novel? I'll hate myself. Encouraged by the Irish historian Cornelius Ryan, she wrote A Woman of Substance. The book became one of the best-selling novels of all time. Bradford described her approach: "I write about mostly ordinary women who achieve the extraordinary."

Her other bestselling books include To Be the Best (1988), Three Weeks in Paris (2002) and The Wonder of It All (2023). Many followed a pattern of women rising from humble beginnings through hard work. Her husband, Hollywood producer Robert E. Bradford, adapted ten of her books into television miniseries and films, including A Woman of Substance and Act of Will. He died in 2019 at the age of 90.

Bradford was an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust and served on the board of Literacy Partners in the US for six years. She received honorary doctorates from the University of Leeds and several American institutions. In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II awarded her an OBE. Her original manuscripts are archived in the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds, alongside the works of the Brontë sisters. In 2017, she was named one of 90 'Great Britons' in honour of the Queen's 90th birthday.

She met Robert Bradford on a blind date in 1961 and married him in 1963. They moved to the United States, and she became an American citizen in 1992. She is estimated to be worth between £60 million and £166 million. Her Connecticut home was once rumoured to have a heated lake for swans, although she later clarified that previous owners had installed the feature.

Barbara Taylor Bradford, 91, died at her home in New York on November 24, 2024. A private funeral was held at Saint Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue, and she was buried next to her husband in Westchester Hills Cemetery.