Novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford Dies Aged 91

BBC: Author described as ‘the grande dame of blockbusters’ wrote 40 novels, selling more than 91m copies

A screenshot taken from this article in today's Guardian. | Barbara Taylor Bradford was described as ‘an inspiration for millions of readers and countless writers’. Photograph: Caroll Taveras/PA
Barbara Taylor Bradford, the bestselling author of novels including A Woman of Substance, has died aged 91, her publisher has confirmed.

The novelist died peacefully at her home on Sunday after a short illness, “surrounded by loved ones to the very end”.

Described as “the grande dame of blockbusters”, Taylor Bradford published her 40th novel in 2023, the third in her Victorian family saga House of Falconer series. Cumulative sales of her books across her lifetime reached more than 91m copies, and were published in more than 40 languages and in 90 countries.

Lynne Drew, Barbara’s long-term publisher and editor at HarperCollins, said working with the writer “was a huge privilege but also a huge amount of fun. Perennially curious, interested in everyone and extraordinarily driven, she loved writing, and the conversations we had about her characters were unfailingly the best hours of my week. » | Lucy Knight | Monday, November 25, 2024

BBC:

Best-selling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford dies: Author Barbara Taylor Bradford, known for best-selling novels including A Woman of Substance, has died at the age of 91. »

Barbara Taylor Bradford: An author of substance: The title of Barbara Taylor Bradford's most celebrated, and first, novel A Woman of Substance could well have been used to describe the author herself. »

THE GUARDIAN:

Barbara Taylor Bradford: she wrote books about sexy, scrappy, hard-working women like her: A towering goddess of late 20th-century fiction, the novelist sold a different way of living to women who did not have choices – and she made all of her own dreams come true »

Barbara Taylor Bradford: ‘My mother told me: “Keep your head down and don’t flirt at work” : The author, aged 88, on her first job working with Keith Waterhouse, giving advice to Sean Connery and her 56-year marriage »

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