which I did, and then we took it apart together and I rewrote it several times until we were sure it was everything I wanted it to be. My only worry was that it was somewhat parochial, since most of it played out in Yorkshire.
But this did not bother Bob at all, who told me that it was the girl who was captivating, who the reader cared about – and that location was not all that important. Readers will become intrigued by her, will want to keep reading to see what happens to her, how she ends up.
What I wanted was to tell a good tale about an enterprising woman, who makes it in a man’s world of business when women weren’t doing that. A woman who becomes a woman of substance.
I suppose I succeeded more than I realised at the time. Emma Harte and her life story captured everybody’s imagination, and still does. Tough and often ruthless, brilliant when it came to dissimulation, she was an amazing businesswoman, and could be a powerful and fearsome adversary when she thought this was necessary.
No author sits at a desk for hours at a time wanting to write a book that nobody reads. I am proud that my first novel, published in 1979, has sold millions of copies in ninety countries and forty languages. Remarkably, it’s still selling today forty years later.
In fact, A Woman of Substance has become a classic itself, and I smile every time I see the phrase ‘a woman of substance’ used to describe other successful or unique women. My title has seeped into everyday language and is used all the time, in newspapers, magazines and on the airwaves.
I started writing when I was seven years old, encouraged by my mother who was a voracious reader. When I was ten she found one of my stories and sent it to a children’s magazine. Imagine my surprise and joy when they accepted it, and even paid me seven shillings and sixpence for it. But it was the by-line ‘Barbara Taylor’ that impressed me and I announced to my mother that I was going to be a writer when I grew up. Many years later when I gave my mother a copy of the book she looked at me and said quietly, ‘This is the fulfilment of your childhood dream’. It was. But it might not have ever been written if Bob had not been excited by my storytelling, and had convinced me to do an outline. Even when I doubted that outline, he dismissed this idea very swiftly. It was his total confidence in my ability that gave me the courage to write my first novel, and to keep on writing many more. In fact, his love and devotion helped to create my whole career, and I couldn’t have done it without him by my side. And that is why every book is dedicated to him with all my love and gratitude, and always will be.
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