Barbara Taylor Bradford, Author of Bestselling Novel ‘A Woman of Substance’, Dies at 91

British-American novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, the author of the bestselling 1979 novel A Woman of Substance, has died. She was 91.

Bradford’s death on Sunday was confirmed to the Associated Press by a spokesperson who said she passed at her home in New York City.

A Woman of Substance sold over 30 million copies worldwide and was adapted into a successful Channel 4 miniseries starring Jenny Seagrove. The show was nominated for two Emmys.

Born in Leeds, England in 1933, Bradford started out as a journalist before picking up the pen and writing novels. Her stories often focused on rags-to-riches journeys for young women. A bestseller in both the U.K. and U.S., Bradford wrote a total of 40 books across her career. Other popular novels of hers include Ravenscar, Cavendon and the House of Falconer series.

Nine more of her novels were turned into television programs or films throughout her career, all of them produced by Bradford’s husband Robert E. Bradford, an American film producer who died in 2019.

Paying tribute, her publisher and editor Lynne Drew told the BBC on Monday: “Dominating the bestseller lists, she broke new ground with her sweeping epic novels spanning generations, novels which were resolutely not romances, and she epitomised the woman of substance she created, particularly with her ruthless work ethic.”

Charlie Redmayne, chief executive of publisher HarperCollins, said: “Barbara Taylor Bradford was a truly exceptional writer whose first book, the international bestseller A Woman of Substance, changed the lives of so many who read it — and still does to this day.”

She was “a natural storyteller”, Redmayne said, as well as “a great, great friend”.