From an IBM electric typewriter in her New York City apartment, novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford creates a world of powerful women.
They are so powerful, in fact, that some of her readers insist at least one of them must really exist somewhere.
It’s her first heroine, Emma Harte, who casts the spell.
“They say, ‘Who was Emma, really?’” Bradford said one recent morning. “They want to know where they can visit her grave.”
Bradford, who will speak at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the S.C. Book Festival, introduced Emma in her first novel, “A Woman of Substance,” in 1979. A poor young Englishwoman, Emma went on to build a department store empire and a colorful family.
That book has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
Recognizing a good story, Bradford went on to write four more novels in the Emma Harte saga. Now, partly because of readers’ requests, she is writing about Emma’s great-granddaughters. “Unexpected Blessings,” just out last month, is the second of three planned books about another generation of successful but conflict-driven women.
Just as Emma Harte’s wealth and business interests have been handed on to new generations, Bradford finds that women who read her first books in the late 1970s and early ’80s are passing them on to their daughters.
“It’s a cultish thing,” she said. “They fell in love with Emma. Now 30-year-olds are reading the books because their mothers read them. It’s like turning on ‘Friends.’”
The older women also point to the examples of good character and career success — women as role models — portrayed in the books, Bradford said.
On that score, some Midlands readers agree.
Jean Blount of Chapin, buying Bradford’s “Unexpected Blessings” at a local bookstore, explained: “I like the way she writes. It’s not silly. It’s intelligent writing.
“She appeals to me. I’m an independent woman myself.”
Joyce Kimbrell of Columbia said she liked Bradford’s books as a change of pace from the mysteries that are her main interest.
“They’re well written,” she said. “They’re women’s stories.”
Bradford has written 20 novels, all of them spending time on best-seller lists. “Unexpected Blessings” is No. 10 on the New York Times best-seller list this week.
Women lead the way in most of her novels, but Bradford bristles when someone suggests she writes in the romance genre.
“Bookstores see a book by a woman and they put it in the romance section,” she said. “I write mainstream fiction about women.”
That’s not to say that romance doesn’t figure in her stories. A woman character, suddenly single, will go to a party in a beautiful white dress. Her eyes will meet those of a man across the room, and at that moment their lives will be forever changed ...
Successful women attract male interest, Bradford points out. Often, therein lies the conflict and tension of the story.
“When you are a strong woman, you will attract trouble. When a man feels threatened, there is always trouble.”
Sometimes the problems are a bad marriage, a former lover — and in Emma Harte’s case, an illegitimate child or two.
But Bradford is quick to say that, though she herself may be a strong woman, she has been married to the same man, Robert Bradford, for 41 years. A television producer, he is her business manager and produces her novels as movies and miniseries for TV.
Writing books in a series has its pitfalls for an author. Bradford must constantly review her previous books to make sure details remain true.
“You can’t deconstruct the series,” she said. “You’re stuck with it.”
Readers catch her every time she, for example, changes a character’s eye color from green to blue.
In fact, she said she was “hoisted on my own petard” when she wrote that a male character had been fired from the department store by a different character from the one written in a previous book. She had inadvertently mixed up the movie script, where the scene had been changed, with the book.
Bradford began her career as a newspaper journalist in her native England. She moved to New York after marrying and continued to write, publishing decorating books and writing a syndicated column on decorating.
But, like many journalists, she really wanted to write novels. After she had four failed attempts, two things helped her on the path to success.
One was an interview she did with herself. She asked herself questions on what she wanted to write about, down to the last detail. She came up with, as both subject and title, “A Woman of Substance.”
The other motivator was reading a magazine interview with writer Graham Greene. Greene was asked about the most important element of a novel.
“He answered, ‘Character is plot.’ I knew instantly the character of Emma Harte would be the plot of the book,” Bradford said.
A highly organized and disciplined writer, she outlines each book before starting to write. Then she polishes each chapter before going on to the next.
Right now, she is on deadline to finish the third book in this series. It will be called “Just Rewards” and will be published in Britain in June. American readers will have to wait until early next year for their version.
More than 70 million of Bradford’s books have been sold in more than 90 countries and 40 languages.
She travels frequently to meet those readers and to listen to their concerns.
“You must,” she said. “If you don’t, you might as well hang up your pencil.”
Reach Jackson at ljackson@thestate.com.
FACT FILE
Barbara Taylor Bradford
Born: Upper Armley, Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Home: New York City
The measure of her success: 20 novels, all best sellers; more than 70 million books sold worldwide
Latest novel: “Unexpected Blessings,” published in January
Mixed media: Ten of her novels have been made into television miniseries, produced by her husband, Robert Bradford.
Critics say: “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 (United Kingdom)
Quote: “I work eight hours a day, but I’m not writing all that time. I’m thinking, editing, looking something up. Thinking is what I do a lot of.”
