'The grand dame of blockbusters': Bestselling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford has died

Barbara Taylor Bradford, the bestselling novelist who wrote A Woman Of Substance, has died astatine the property of 91.

The Leeds-born author, who sold much than 90 cardinal books, died peacefully astatine her location connected Sunday aft a abbreviated unwellness and was "surrounded by loved ones to the precise end", a spokeswoman said.

Taylor Bradford, who was often labelled "the expansive dame of blockbusters", deed the large clip erstwhile A Woman Of Substance was published successful 1979, making her an overnight success.

The communicative sold millions of copies and traced the travel of Emma Harte from beingness arsenic a servant successful agrarian Yorkshire to heading a concern empire.

The rags to riches communicative was followed by galore different palmy books with the author's works being published successful much than 40 languages crossed 90 countries.

Charlie Redmayne, main enforcement of steadfast HarperCollins, said the writer was a "natural storyteller", adding: "Barbara Taylor Bradford was a genuinely exceptional writer whose archetypal book, the planetary bestseller A Woman Of Substance, changed the lives of truthful galore who work it - and inactive does to this day."

Taylor Bradford, who was made an OBE successful 2007 for services to literature, wrote a full of 40 novels during her vocation - her astir caller was The Wonder Of It All, published past year.

Born successful May 1933 arsenic the lone kid of Winston and Freda Taylor, she worked arsenic a typist for the Yorkshire Evening Post earlier becoming a newsman and past the paper's archetypal woman's editor.

At the property of 20, she moved to London and worked successful Fleet Street for Woman's Own and the London Evening News.

She met her husband, American movie shaper Robert Bradford, successful 1961 and they joined successful London connected Christmas Eve successful 1963 earlier moving to New York the pursuing year.

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The mates were joined for 55 years until helium died from a changeable successful 2019.

Following a backstage ceremonial successful New York, the writer volition beryllium buried alongside her precocious hubby astatine the city's Westchester Hills Cemetery.