Barbara Taylor Bradford: A woman of substance

It is 30 years since the publication of A Woman of Substance, Barbara Taylor Bradford's groundbreaking debut which followed the rags-to-riches journey of Emma Harte, from pregnant kitchen maid to head of an international business empire. BTB, as she is affectionately known, has built on her original success to create a worldwide super-brand, published in over 40 languages and in 90 countries.

Before A Woman of Substance, Bradford had made four attempts at writing a novel "in the suspense genre" but didn't finish any of them. "I didn't like them and I thought if I don't like them, the reader won't," she says. She then decided to write "a traditional, old-fashioned saga about a woman making it in a man's world". She was also "tired of reading about women who were whores or madonnas [in books] written by men. They weren't real and I wanted to write about real women."

When A Woman of Substance came out in 1979, it caught a mood. She remembers that "women were getting a bit restless, restive, wanting to go into business and compete with men." It was also, of course, the year Margaret Thatcher became prime minister.

Now with 25 novels to her name, she is still best known for the Emma Harte series, a sweeping multi-generational family saga much loved by her readers: A Woman of Substance, Hold the Dream, Be the Best, Emma's Secret, Unexpected Blessings, Just Rewards and the latest, Breaking the Rules. Bradford is often described as a romance writer, a description she is not entirely happy with. "They are not all sagas you know," she says with a touch of asperity. "And they're not all romances. There are romantic things in the books, but there's a lot more world history and current events."

However one chooses to describe her books, she's certainly sold a lot of them. Worldwide sales are reported to have reached 82 million and Nielsen BookScan shows total UK sales just shy of 1.5 million since records began in 1998.

I ask what she thinks it is about her books that have kept people reading. "I'm an established brand, so to a certain extent people more or less know that they're going to get a book which will be about a strong woman making it in a man's world, a woman overcoming obstacles. I'm told that I tell a good story and that I tell it well. There's quite a lot of drama and emotion in all of the books and I think many women do identify with some of the problems that the women in the books have." She adds: "I try to entertain. I think that it is very important for an author to entertain as well as inform. I think I'm really giving the reader my view of the world, and of people and, whatever my view is, it seems to work for them."

Her readers would appear to be a very loyal bunch. She describes them as "very involved" and says with a smile that "badgering" for more about the Hartes resulted in Breaking the Rules. It's not unusual for her signings to attract several generations of readers, many of whom first picked up a mother's or even a grandmother's copy of A Woman of Substance. Fans keep in touch via her website and over 450,000 readers are signed up for the email newsletter.

Single editor

Unusually, Bradford has had the same UK publisher for her entire career. She was originally signed to Granada, which became Grafton and was then bought by HarperCollins. She also had the same editor, Patricia Parkin, until Parkin's death this March. "It was a tremendous shock to me. I don't think I'll ever get over it. The book [Breaking the Rules] is dedicated to her." Being part of a close-knit team for so long has provided her with a level of security which new writers today are highly unlikely to experience. Bradford agrees. "It must be very hard for a beginner writer now. Because I'm an established name, it's much easier for me. I think the times have changed. When I look back and think about everybody at Grafton, and the early days at HarperCollins, we seemed to be having a lot of fun. But I don't think that's to do with publishing, I just think it's the times we're living in. The world has changed so much."

Bradford starts writing at 6 a.m., a legacy from her time as a reporter on the Yorkshire Evening Post when she had to be at her desk by 7 a.m. Working at a newspaper also taught her the importance of a deadline‚ she has only delivered one book late in 30 years, and that was because of Patricia's death. And interviewing people gave her invaluable insight into human nature. "One of my news editors said to me early on: 'Stop anybody in the street, Barbara, and ask them to tell you their life story, and you'll find you have a novel.'"

Before beginning a new book (she's already started number 26), she says she must be sure of two things. "I must know the last page‚ if not the actual words then what the feeling is‚ and I have to know the title. If I don't have the title, then I can't start the book," she declares.

"I do plan everything out very carefully. People who tell me that they just sit down and do this [mimes typing] and it flows, I'm not sure whether I really believe this. Because how do you build a house without architectural plans?"

Despite being in her mid-70s, Bradford has no plans to retire. "I don't know what I'd do!" she exclaims. "I've got no children, I've got no grandchildren, I've got two dogs but you can't boss them around. Bob [her husband] is at the office. Just tell me, what would I do? I like being busy. I love writing books. I love telling stories, I love telling all those lies!"