British novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, author of bestselling books translated around the world, including The space of a life, died at the age of 91, her publishing house announced Monday.
She died “peacefully” at her home on Sunday, “surrounded by her loved ones,” HarperCollins said on social media.
A private funeral will take place in New York (United States), where she lived since the 1960s.
A prolific author, she has written around forty novels which have sold more than 91 million copies. The latest, The Wonder of It All (no French translation), was published in 2023.
“Barbara Taylor Bradford was a truly exceptional writer whose first book, the internationally bestselling A Woman Of Substance [L’espace d’une vie] changed the lives of so many people who read it,” said Charlie Redmayne, CEO of HarperCollins.
This book, which launched his career, has sold more than 30 million copies. It was also the subject of a television adaptation and received two nominations for the Emmy Awards, the equivalent of the Oscars for American television.
It was the first in a series of global successes, including Letter from a stranger or Emma Harte’s secret.
Her novels each time follow more or less the same narrative structure: a heroine who seeks fulfillment despite difficulties. His books are more family sagas than romance novels.
Born in Leeds, central England, in May 1933, she began her career as a typist at the local newspaper Yorkshire Evening Post, before being promoted to reporter. At the age of 20, she moved to London, where she worked as a journalist at London Evening News.
She was awarded the distinction of Officer of the British Empire in 2007.
