About this title: In this sweeping saga spanning both world wars, Emma Harte conquers abject poverty, harrowing circumstances, and ill-fated love to climb from her life as a poor shop clerk to the seat of power of an international empire. Beginning humbly in service to the wealthy Fairley family on the moors of Yorkshire, Emma eventually finds her way to Leeds. There, through the kindness of the Kallinski family, she works as a humble buttonhole maker. Through strong-willed perseverance, she eventually sets up her own modest food shop which blossoms into a prosperous department store. In spite of her own ...
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"This was one of the firts "adult" novels I read. I remember it vividly even though I was abou 12. It seemed racy and grown up at the time but I also remember the strength of the main character as really speaking to me back then!"
"WOW!!! Talk about a powerful, strong willed woman. Emma did not come from a charmed life. Whatever she had, she created and took the lumps/ bumps along the way even in love. Maybe I will read this book again because I loved it so much. That was about 30+ years ago...time flies. A MUST READ book if you like stories about strong women."
"The biggest problem I had with the book is that it was not well researched. As a mother of twins I was shocked to read that it the book stated that one of the main characters had 'identical twins--one boy and one girl'. Since that is an impossible situation I was annoyed and took the remainder of the book with a 'grain of salt.'"
"I've always been brought up to believe that Barbara Taylor Bradford, along with Danielle Steel and Jilly Cooper, are authors to avoid, to shun from the mind. In my mother's house, they are considered Rubbish and that is that. Despite this, my father's mother, my grandmother, is an avid Barbara Taylor Bradford fan, and displays her copies proudly among her Delia Smiths and so forth. And I thought, oh to hell with our snobbish prejudices. And I picked one out to read. Grandma was delighted. 'A Woman of Substance', the journey of a determined young woman, in an age before our own. Maybe I did ever so slightly get into a mindset; not all my snobbery was gone, and I was ready to sneer. I did sneer. It was not awful, to be fair, but it was just as I had expected. No moral was learned."
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