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Emma's Secret [Hardcover]

Barbara Taylor Bradford
2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Jan 6 2004 Bradford, Barbara Taylor
The legendary Emma Harte, heroine of A Woman of Substance, returns in Emma's Secret, a novel that showcases the storytelling power of Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Paula O'Neill, beloved granddaughter of Emma Harte and the guardian of her vast business empire, believes that everything Emma left to the family is secure. However, beneath the surface, sibling rivalry and discontent flare. Linnet and Tessa, her daughters, are as different as two women can be. One of them wants desperately for the empire to be hers but has a devastating secret that may put her very life in danger.

Into this volatile mix walks Evan Hughes, a young American fashion designer who is looking for Emma Harte. But Emma has been dead for thirty years. And Evan bears an uncanny resemblance to Paula O'Neill. Troubled by Evan's presence, Paula turns to her grandmother's recently discovered wartime diaries to find the truth, and Emma comes vividly back to life¿.

The decades fall away. It is London in 1940: the Blitz. Emma, working hard under war-time conditions, is also holding her family together as bombs drop, sirens wail, and her sons go off to war. While she struggles with grief, her indomitability, willpower, and strength come to the fore. As the pages unfurl, Paula discovers the secret Emma took to the grave to protect others, a secret whose repercussions inevitably change lives and may shake a dynasty to its very foundations.

Emma's Secret is vintage Barbara Taylor Bradford. Emotion, drama, suspense, intrigue, and passion fill the pages in a spellbinding novel that only she could write.

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

It has been nearly 25 years since Bradford made her name with the female rags-to-riches saga A Woman of Substance, the first in a trilogy of novels that concluded with 1988's To Be the Best. Gambling that there is still life to be squeezed out of the story of indomitable super-survivor Emma Harte and her descendants, Bradford returns to the chase with this present-day sequel. The novel opens in 2001 at Pennistone Royal, Emma's magnificent country estate in Yorkshire, now occupied by her granddaughter Paula's family. Paula heads the Knightsbridge store, flagship of the nationwide Harte chain, and her grown daughters, Linnet and Tessa, work there. A young American, Evan Hughes, with an uncanny Harte family resemblance, appears one day seeking a job. She's hired at once, since Linnet needs help with an upcoming fashion spectacular, a retrospective featuring Emma's couture wardrobe. Linnet's cousin Gideon, who works for the Harte newspapers, is smitten with Evan, and soon the mystery of her background is of concern, especially when it's discovered that Evan's grandmother had a close relationship with Emma. The overwhelming amount of descriptive detail clothing, interior decor, food and drink slows down the narrative, but such Victorian props as a decorative locked box, a key taped behind a photograph and long-lost diaries provide mild suspense. The saga was already losing steam with To Be the Best, and this fourth installment is further diluted. Lacking the dynamic impact of the original, it will be best appreciated by those with an irresistible desire to follow the further adventures of the Harte clan.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Emma Harte, the heroine of Bradford's novel A Woman of Substance (1979), has been dead for more than 30 years when Emma's Secret opens, but her past factors heavily into the events of the novel. At the bequest of her dying grandmother, young American Evan Hughes arrives at Emma's magnificent English clothing store, Hartes, only to find out that Emma has long since died. She is soon hired as a store assistant to Linnet O'Neill, Emma's great-granddaughter, who can't help but notice the American's resemblance to her own mother, Paula. Evan and Gideon Harte, Paula's cousin, fall in love amid whispers that Evan might be the descendant of one of Emma's husbands. The truth lies in Emma's diary, but Paula is reluctant to read it. Curiosity finally gets the better of her, and the journal takes Paula to Emma's life during World War II, and at least partially answers the family's questions about Evan's heritage. It is up to Paula to figure out the rest. Readers new to the series might have a hard time getting a handle on the large cast of characters and their relationships to each other, but those familiar with Emma Harte and her large family will feel right at home. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
By Frances
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I read A Woman of Substance and the next two books which had strong female characters, and was very happy with them. I was highly disappointed in the last three books that made this series - they reminded me of cheesy Harlequin novels! No encores for this set please!
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4.0 out of 5 stars memories of a woman of substance Dec 30 2004
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I read a woman of substance many years ago and again in 1999 and loved it all over again. As a business woman and one that loves to see other women succeed I passed it on and on. Unfortunately I missed all of her sequals up to Emma's secret. I picked Emma's secret up on a business trip and fell right back under the spell of Emma's family. I actually stayed awake and read it through in quick time. I loved it and am buying the rest to catch up on the family. It's better than desperate housewives and I think that's a hoot!
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1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible Jun 14 2004
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This book was very disappointing. So many things could have been developed to make it exciting but none of them ever were.
The book doesnt seem to really have any ending. It felt like the last chapter must have been left out. I have read Bradford before and this has got to be her worst.
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Most recent customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars End of an Era
I enjoyed Emma Harte so much that I have been compelled to follow the stories of her offspring. I was incredibly disappointed to read Bradford's description of Evan's mother who... Read more
Published on Jun 10 2004
2.0 out of 5 stars Back to the Harte's again.... (with a spoiler or two)
With "Emma's Secret," Barbara Taylor Bradford returns yet again to the world of the Hartes. Read more
Published on Jun 7 2004 by Sophia
2.0 out of 5 stars Woman of Substance this is not
I read Woman of Substance for the first time MANY years ago. I enjoyed it so much that I've read it several times since then... The sequels (i.e. Read more
Published on May 14 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars I'm reading the books out of order..
I read this one first! I loved it, and how tight the families were was a great story line. In this book Bradford puts a family tree of the Harte Clan which comes in very handy no... Read more
Published on April 22 2004 by Meg
5.0 out of 5 stars Great follow-up to A Woman of Substance
This was a very good book where we can read about the incomparable Emma again. I literally couldn't put it down. Everyone who's read the first one should read it. Read more
Published on April 20 2004 by Chelsea Becker
1.0 out of 5 stars what happened?????????
I've read all her books and loved them. Now I've struggled and struggled to read this one. I give up. I'm about in the middle and I can't take anymore! Read more
Published on April 11 2004 by Karen Elliott
1.0 out of 5 stars Really bad
This was the worst book Barbara Taylor Bradford has ever written. Woman of Substance was so outstanding that I thought that surely this might come close to it. WRONG!!! Read more
Published on Mar 29 2004
1.0 out of 5 stars The secret is there is no story
Any book that cannot stand on it's own should not be written. I found the characters totally confusing. Read more
Published on Mar 16 2004
1.0 out of 5 stars The secret is there is no story
Any book that cannot stand on it's own should not be written. I found the characters totally confusing. They suddenly appeared and the reader is presumed to know who they are. Read more
Published on Mar 16 2004
3.0 out of 5 stars More than one person got mugged --
This frothy piece should have been titled 'Women Obsessed with Style,' for surely the book had no substance. Read more
Published on Mar 16 2004 by bisccottie
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