Emma's Secret

From Publishers Weekly
It has been nearly 25 years since Bradford made her name with the female rags-to-riches saga A Woman of Substance, the first in a trilogy of novels that concluded with 1988's To Be the Best. Gambling that there is still life to be squeezed out of the story of indomitable super-survivor Emma Harte and her descendants, Bradford returns to the chase with this present-day sequel. The novel opens in 2001 at Pennistone Royal, Emma's magnificent country estate in Yorkshire, now occupied by her granddaughter Paula's family. Paula heads the Knightsbridge store, flagship of the nationwide Harte chain, and her grown daughters, Linnet and Tessa, work there. A young American, Evan Hughes, with an uncanny Harte family resemblance, appears one day seeking a job. She's hired at once, since Linnet needs help with an upcoming fashion spectacular, a retrospective featuring Emma's couture wardrobe. Linnet's cousin Gideon, who works for the Harte newspapers, is smitten with Evan, and soon the mystery of her background is of concern, especially when it's discovered that Evan's grandmother had a close relationship with Emma. The overwhelming amount of descriptive detail clothing, interior decor, food and drink slows down the narrative, but such Victorian props as a decorative locked box, a key taped behind a photograph and long-lost diaries provide mild suspense. The saga was already losing steam with To Be the Best, and this fourth installment is further diluted. Lacking the dynamic impact of the original, it will be best appreciated by those with an irresistible desire to follow the further adventures of the Harte clan.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From AudioFile
Bradford's novel continues the saga of the Harte family, begun with Emma Harte in A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE. On her deathbed Evan Hughes's grandmother tells her to go to London, where Emma Harte holds the key to her future. But Emma Harte has been dead for 30 years. In London, Evan turns up at a flagship store in Knightsbridge looking for a job. Everyone notices the resemblance between owner Paula O'Neill--Emma Hart's granddaughter--and the young American. When a cousin of Paula's is smitten with Emma, it becomes imperative to find out Evan's lineage. As Bradford lets the story unfold in the present and the past, Kate Reading divulges Emma's family secrets one by one in a soothing, languorous voice and soft accents. Reading performs each scene with practiced aplomb and lets the multifaceted story gradually reveal itself. Love, friendship, and family are the keys to the Hartes, their kin, and the past they guard so zealously. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Emma Harte, the heroine of Bradford's novel A Woman of Substance (1979), has been dead for more than 30 years when Emma's Secret opens, but her past factors heavily into the events of the novel. At the bequest of her dying grandmother, young American Evan Hughes arrives at Emma's magnificent English clothing store, Hartes, only to find out that Emma has long since died. She is soon hired as a store assistant to Linnet O'Neill, Emma's great-granddaughter, who can't help but notice the American's resemblance to her own mother, Paula. Evan and Gideon Harte, Paula's cousin, fall in love amid whispers that Evan might be the descendant of one of Emma's husbands. The truth lies in Emma's diary, but Paula is reluctant to read it. Curiosity finally gets the better of her, and the journal takes Paula to Emma's life during World War II, and at least partially answers the family's questions about Evan's heritage. It is up to Paula to figure out the rest. Readers new to the series might have a hard time getting a handle on the large cast of characters and their relationships to each other, but those familiar with Emma Harte and her large family will feel right at home. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
“Barbara Taylor Bradford is the storyteller of substance.”— Times (London)

“An extravagant, absorbing novel of love, courage, ambition, war, death and passion.” —The New York Times on A Woman of Substance

“Pure gold."—Cosmopolitan on Act of Will

”She is one of the world’s best at spinning yarns.“ —The Guardian (UK) on Dangerous to Know



Book Description
The legendary Emma Harte, heroine of A Woman of Substance, returns in Emma's Secret, a novel that showcases the storytelling power of Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Paula O'Neill, beloved granddaughter of Emma Harte and the guardian of her vast business empire, believes that everything Emma left to the family is secure. However, beneath the surface, sibling rivalry and discontent flare. Linnet and Tessa, her daughters, are as different as two women can be. One of them wants desperately for the empire to be hers but has a devastating secret that may put her very life in danger.

Into this volatile mix walks Evan Hughes, a young American fashion designer who is looking for Emma Harte. But Emma has been dead for thirty years. And Evan bears an uncanny resemblance to Paula O'Neill. Troubled by Evan's presence, Paula turns to her grandmother's recently discovered wartime diaries to find the truth, and Emma comes vividly back to life¿.

The decades fall away. It is London in 1940: the Blitz. Emma, working hard under war-time conditions, is also holding her family together as bombs drop, sirens wail, and her sons go off to war. While she struggles with grief, her indomitability, willpower, and strength come to the fore. As the pages unfurl, Paula discovers the secret Emma took to the grave to protect others, a secret whose repercussions inevitably change lives and may shake a dynasty to its very foundations.

Emma's Secret is vintage Barbara Taylor Bradford. Emotion, drama, suspense, intrigue, and passion fill the pages in a spellbinding novel that only she could write.



From the Back Cover
Praise for Barbara Taylor Bradford and Her Novels:

"Barbara Taylor Bradford is the storyteller of substance."--The Times (London)

"An extravagant, absorbing novel of love, courage, ambition, war, death and passion."
--The New York Times on A Woman of Substance

"Pure gold."
--Cosmopolitan on Act of Will

"Legions of readers will be satisfied by the romantic fortunes of the cultured, wealthy, and powerful people she evokes."
--Publishers Weekly on The Women in His Life

"Few novelists are as consummate as Barbara Taylor Bradford at keeping the reader turning the page. She is one of the world's best at spinning yarns."
--The Guardian (UK) on Dangerous to Know



About the Author
Barbara Taylor Bradford was born in Leeds, England, and by the age of twenty was an editor and a columnist on Fleet Street. Her first novel, A Woman of Substance, became an enduring bestseller and was followed by eighteen others, including Emma's Secret. Her books have sold more than 70 million copies worldwide in more than ninety countries and forty languages. She lives in New York City with her husband, producer Robert Bradford.



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Emma Harte returns, though not in the flesh, for a hefty fourth in the series that began with the bestselling A Woman of Substance (1979). The gold-flecked blood of a true retailer flows in the veins of Linnet O'Neill, great-granddaughter of the legendary Emma Harte, founder of the world-famous department store that stands in Knightsbridge to this very day. Like her ancestor, Linnet loves to roam the misty moors in pink-cheeked solitude, warbling like the wild bird she's named for, crushing the fragrant heather underfoot, just aglow with the glory of it all, not to mention the ladylike ambition to sell that burns within her soul. And she is but one of Emma's many descendants, born on the right and wrong sides of various blankets (of pure wool trimmed with silk, madam, and just feel the quality). Meet Linnet's mother, Paula McGill Harte Amory Fairley O'Neill. (How's that for crossbreeding?) Linnet's nearest and dearest include Tessa, Lorne, Toby, Gideon, Lady India, Chloe, Fiona, Emsie, Desmond, and that's just for starters. The Hartes and the O'Neills and Kallinskis (clans founded by friends from Emma's youth) have gone forth and multiplied indeed. A handy genealogical chart is provided for the hopelessly confused. Meanwhile, back at the store, Linnet is setting up a display of eighty years' worth of fashion, basking in the approving glow of her great-grandmother's painted portrait smile. Pages of gushy descriptions of assorted frocks follow, plus a few steamy sex scenes tucked in here and there. Then-aha! Emma's diary is found. Though the great lady has been dead for decades, those still living are reluctant to read it. Perhaps it holds further secrets. Oho! It seems that Emma's long-agosecretary, gorgeous Glynnis, was pregnant by an Unknown Admirer when she married a nice American GI. Could the Unknown Admirer have been a Harte? If so, which one? Fans will be interested. Everyone else, mystified. Agents: Mort Janklow & Anne Sibbald/Janklow & Nesbit


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