Barbara Taylor Bradford had ‘elegance, poise and steely determination’

The writer who Barbara Taylor Bradford named arsenic the archetypal Woman of Substance has hailed the precocious writer arsenic idiosyncratic with “elegance, poise, and steely determination”.

The awards were launched to coincide with the 30th day of Taylor Bradford’s debut novel, A Woman of Substance, which was archetypal published successful 1979, astir a servant that ended up heading up a concern empire.

In 2009, Lisa Salmon, from Leeds, was recognised arsenic the archetypal pistillate to get the prize aft she overcame adversity pursuing a car clang with a lorry successful 2001, which near her virtually blind.

It was perfectly wide that BTB was a pistillate who understood what it took to win successful life

Lisa Salmon

A twelvemonth aboriginal her newborn lad died successful her arms.

Taylor Bradford died aged 91 connected Sunday pursuing a abbreviated illness, “and was surrounded by loved ones to the precise end”, a spokeswoman said.

Ms Salmon said: “I deliberation astatine slightest portion of the crushed BTB, arsenic everyone called her, chose maine to triumph the grant is due to the fact that she was from Leeds, which is wherever I live, and she excessively was a writer earlier she started penning novels, truthful determination were definite similarities successful our aboriginal lives.

“I met her a fewer times and was struck by her elegance, poise, and steely determination – it was perfectly wide that BTB was a pistillate who understood what it took to win successful life.

“But contempt having mislaid her Yorkshire accent aft surviving successful the US for truthful galore years, she inactive retained her ain Yorkshire warmth, and I was decidedly near with the content that though I’d won the award, it was Barbara Taylor Bradford herself who was the existent Woman of Substance.”

Ms Salmon, a household exertion and a elder health, homes and reactive diagnostic writer for the PA quality agency, said she was “honoured” to person the prize.

At the ceremonial successful London’s Dorchester Hotel much than 10 years ago, Taylor Bradford said: “Lisa’s communicative is amazing.

“She has had to woody with not 1 but a bid of tragedies which has caused her large carnal and affectional pain, had to find the spot to transportation connected and has flooded large adversity to reinvent herself and unrecorded her beingness to the full.”

Ms Salmon besides had rheumatoid arthritis arsenic a toddler, her begetter died erstwhile she was conscionable a kid and she discovered she had a perchance fatal humor clot successful her limb during a holiday.

She regained immoderate of the show successful 1 oculus aft a cataract operation, and has supported the Yorkshire Air Ambulance work that saved her beingness aft the collision adjacent Skipton.