I stayed up later than I usually do in order to finish this book, not because I was riveted, but because I just couldn't stomach one more evening spent on it. It's so long. Length is not itself a deterrent for me, but when it's so much unnecessary length of so little substance (heh...irony), it becomes tedious. I don't need to know everything everyone wore on every occasion. I get it. She's pretty and dresses better than everyone else could possibly hope to dress. Save the detailed descriptions for first impressions. On the upside, I bet it made the job of costuming for the mini-series super easy. They didn't have to imagine what anyone was wearing - Bradford already told them.

I also grew weary of Emma Harte. I didn't dislike her, but I didn't really like her either. The sum of my reaction to her is a begrudging "Okay, I guess I see why you made that choice," with a side of "...but I suspect that this will end badly for you," followed inevitably by a "See? I told you so."

This is a very long, verbose book that has a good story buried among its endless descriptions of, well, just about everything. This book left a lot of unanswered questions in my mind, and there were a lot of times when I was skimming through the long, boring descriptions of Emma's furniture and
china and walls and clothes and the color of the sky and the degree of greyness of the clouds - ack!! The interactions between the characters were generally quite good, but it was like slogging through mud to get to them. I found I did
not particularly care for BTB's writing style, at all.

I love historical fiction, and to my mind there aren't enough that focus on the drama of building a business, so the premise of this appealed to me. It's the rag to riches story of a British woman who went from lowly maid to powerful head of a business empire in the early 20th century when women weren't by and large able to rise to such heights.

However, the writing style here was puerile romance aisle, and far too wretched to make me willing to stay with this for over 900 trade paperback pages. Within ten pages we have such cliched and purple writing as "implacable mouth" and eyes "cold as steel," (Emma Harte's, our heroine--they're green--classic Mary Sue color--as is those of her granddaughter protege--those are "violet.") and loads of adverb, adjective and simile prose pile-ups and dizzying point of view shifts. I guess there's something to be said for getting engrossed in a trashy book, but I knew dozens, let alone hundreds of pages of this would drive me insane.

The perfect Christmas read. I struggled a bit with the first bit of this book but for the most part I was captivated.

**March 2020**
This will always be a favorite. Until I read Harry Potter, no book had captured my heart and spirit since I first discovered this Emma Harte saga. She will always be a favorite character.

I love this book. I've read it at least five times and have enjoyed it each time. The series is also very enjoyable and the reason I keep re-reading. With each installment that I have discovered, I had the desire to start at the beginning. It's the one fictional character I wish I could meet; family I wish I could have been a part of.

Barbara Taylor Bradford’s iconic first novel A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE has always been part of my life. At least I always felt like it was. I can’t be exactly sure...
https://sleaze-factor.blogspot.com/20...

Far too long. Far too much "colloquial dialect" in the parts dealing with Emma's young life. If edited, the story could be better, but still not really memorable.This book even contains some very surprising grammatical errors (which were obviously not intentional, as those in Emma and her family's tedious dialect were)

The seduction scene in the cave drags on and on until one thinks the characters will be to old to act upon their desires. Hardly necessary to devote that much time leading up to the obvious. As period fiction the book is OK, as historical fiction it doesn't offer much.



Despite Emma's pluckiness, her rise to riches is really only a matter of luck, and also somewhat implausible. I was not impressed.All in all, I expected more from a book that was such a best seller.

Had a slow start, but by time I finished I can say I enjoyed reading all 800+ pages no matter how long it took me :) A little too descriptive (the author kept going on and on about the furniture, art, and other things that I didn’t even understand) but I was able to look past that and enjoy the story.

Ah, Emma Harte! What a great character. I enjoyed this book a lot. I am more of a mystery book reader but this had enough going on to keep me very interested.

Inspirational and an emotional journey. Totally loved this book.

Saw it as a TV series when I was barely 10. Giving me inspiration ever since. I read the book in class 11th. Re-read it again a couple of years later.Some say it's long, I say it's not enough. loved the chemistry between edwin and Emma and again Paul and Emma. Hated the husbands in between. The jars of homemade jam, the betrayal by Edwin, the scene up in the mountains between Edwin and Emma, the friendship with Blackie, the assault by Edwin's brother, the death of the father, all still fresh in my mind like I read it just yesterday. None of the sequels were ever good enough!

Magnificent, a spellbinding saga in life
Advantages: truly captivating, can boost your will
Disadvantages: none

A bestselling book by Barbara Taylor-Bradford, A woman of substance is a spellbinding saga in life that will instill within your heart, the will and drive to succeed. This is the first of the six novels about Emma Harte and her family, among others are Hold the Dream, To be the Best, Emma's Secret, Unexpected Blessings and Just Rewards. A Woman of Substance is really one of the best novel that i have read. It was really captivating and enthralling story every woman should read. Her drive to succeed in her life is truly remarkable and the pain that she have gone through was also her strength to survive and enable her to build an empire. It is my habit to make a review of the books i have read and like and my review for this book which i have written on it's back page is this; "God given us all the finest things in life ... yet we alone are the holder of our own destiny. BTB (Barbara Taylor-Bradford) a name i would never forget. She is an author that brought back my self esteem and my will to go on with my dreams.
Story Excellent
Characters/Performances Excellent
Special Effects Impressive
Soundtrack Average
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