Title: The Woman of Substance: The Secret Life That Inspired the Renowned Storyteller Barbara Taylor Bradford
Author: Piers Dudgeon
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: November 2006
One of the best known and popular writers of today, Barbara Taylor Bradford seemed to know she was headed for fame from a very young age. Bradford's mother, Freda Taylor, dressed the tot for success always making sure her child looked,"ironed from top to toe." She encouraged her daughter, fueled by her own desire for success, and made sure Barbara would have a better life than she had. This allowed Barbara to grow up with a confidence and desire for success and with an instinct to know what moves to make at what time to further her career.
Ambitious, attractive and born with an enviable sense of fashion, Barbara was soon attending all the right parties with all the right people. She knew, however that beauty alone wouldn't get her to the position she wanted and was smart enough to combine intelligence and hard work with her acceptance into the world of glamour and high living. Because Bradford worked efficiently and effectively the biography is more than a tale of from rags to riches. It is the story of a woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. The book is engaging and truly interesting.
The Woman of Substance: the secret life that inspired the renowned storyteller Barbara Taylor Bradford begins with an introduction to Bradford's grandparents and parents. Her mother was a nanny and nurse; her father a Co-op drayman- someone who looked after horses and drove a cart delivering the goods of a supermarket chain. Although a working-class family they dressed well ate well and always had a nice comfortable home in which to live. That doesn't mean they didn't face hard times, but the small family survived quite nicely, thank you.
Author Piers Dudgeon accompanies Bradford to the home she lived in as a child. He relates Bradford's excitement as she visits the buildings, streets and school buildings of her youth. Dudgeon's descriptions are vivid and colorful. Bradford's recollections are real and ones readers can identify with.
"That's the wall!" Bradford said when walking by a stone wall and some trees. "When you climbed over that wall you were in something called the Baptist Field - I don't know why it was called that, but . . . we used to play in that field, some other children and I, we used to make little villages, little fairylands in the roots of the trees, which were all gnarled, with bits of moss and stones and bits of broken glass, garnered from that field and flowers." What adult wouldn't be dragged back to their childhood, remembering their romps in open fields with other children and immediately feeling a connection with the famous author?
Maps of the area where Bradford was born and raised accompany the biography as do photographs of her as a child, her parents and the places where she lived. Photographs of Bradford at different stages of her life are included, also.
Quotations from Bradford's books are taken and matched to parallel happenings in Bradford's life. She uses her life and people she knew and knows as fodder for her fictional stories. It's interesting to readers as well as it would be to writers, how she threads the nonfiction with the fiction.
Bradford was completely open and spontaneous in revealing her life to Dudgeon. She made herself vulnerable to the author and readers, and one can't help but be drawn to the story of this famous author.
The Woman of Substance: the secret life that inspired the renowned storyteller Barbara Taylor Bradford is a fascinating and interesting read. If you are looking for an interesting book with which to curl up on the couch, this book will fill the need. If you like to read biographies, this is one you can enjoy. It brings the subject to life. If you are a fan of Bradford's work this book is not to be missed.
On the back cover of
The Woman of Substance a blurb says, ". . . it's as absorbing a read as any one of her bestsellers." I have to agree.