This book was really dumb. Nothing of significance really happens in the book. It’s just a telling of the lives of the women of the three generations, Audra, Christina and Kyle. Audra lives through the Great Depression and WW2, no one dies other than her son. I guess her situation where she feels forced into her marriage, mirrors how she forced her daughter Christina into painting. Like she wanted to give her the chances she never had, but also wasn’t giving her daughter autonomy or allowing her to follow her dreams. So just like Audra when she tried to leave her husband, Christina takes her destiny into her own hands, and becomes really successful in her idk what she did like a million things, selling her name as a luxury brand I guess. Then Just like Audra did to Christina, Christina tried to do with her daughter Kyle, forcing her to take over the business. But the just like Christina did, Kyle declared her own independence. And Audra helped Christina accept it. And they all lived happily ever after. So exciting, not.

I love Barbara’s novels. This one was great. I related to the mother-daughter relationship. My only critiques are that the intimate parts were a bit much. And the ending was too abrupt. Multi-generational books are my favorite, and this did not disappoint in that genre!

Fantastically good-looking people with inability to remain long in virtue are the hallmarks of her authorship. Her ability to maneuver through a feverish drama while emphasizing character (inducing you to think of them as bastion of bravery, pillar of intelligence or martyr) is a potent ingredient of lifetime of accomplishments as a successful writer. And what is a Bradford book without in-depth - sometimes overextended, characterization?
I am perplexed though, that she could not formulate a more justifiable point of conflict but instead tendency in a persona to be just be really shallow as a cause of separation or almost falling out of their commitments. In Voice of the Heart, the break-up was from Francesca's gross neglect and in The Women In His Life it was just plain foolish crippling obsession as if she did not grow out of a honeymoon. Yikes.

Audra is actually a relief from Bradford's other oversexed pampered brat heroines.

It's a typical Barbara Taylor Bradford book. You have your plucky heroine who faces all sorts of obstacles with grit and sunny determination. There's the obligatory bad boy that our heroine falls in love with. There's the obligatory next generation that does better in life than the previous generation.

I just felt like all the characters were too perfect. They excelled at everything and were fairly one-dimensional Sues/Stus. Even the one flaw that Vincent had was glossed over. The result was a pretty flat read, despite the tragedies and turmoil that the characters faced in the book. No one, not even Audra's aunt, was truly evil enough to make me want to hate them. And because they were ultra-perfect, I got bored with them pretty fast.

Good

The center of this book is about art and the passion that goes with it. The passion that they each of the three women had for their art (nursing, fashion and landscape painting) rolled into their passion for wanting the best opportunities for their daughters. If you enjoy reading about people that live life passionatly this is the book.

Not as good as woman of substance, but better than to be the best, this novel gets back to focusing on the evolution of a business through 3 generations. The character development is great and descriptions vivid. Very good read!

The story opens with a mother and daughter at loggerheads, and grandma called in to mediate. Most of the novel is a flashback. It's fast-moving and very readable, but difficult situations seem to get resolved rather too quickly, and the conclusion - returning to the time-frame of the prologue - is rather obvious.