Author Barbara Taylor Bradford is best known for her best-selling novels which include “A Woman Of Substance” which was published in 1979. This novel sold 30 million copies. It was also adapted for TV, and Bradford went on to write seven sequels.

Bradford was far from a one-hit wonder. Besides “A Woman Of Substance” and the sequels to this novel, Bradford wrote dozens of other novels. In fact, she wrote a total of 40 novels throughout her writing career.

Now comes the sad news that Bradford has died at the age of 91 years old.

Yahoo! reports the kind tribute that Bradford’s publisher and editor Lynne Drew wrote. Drew shared, “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.”

Drew went on to describe Bradford as “perennially curious, interested in everyone and extraordinarily driven.” She added that Bradford was “an inspiration for millions of readers and countless writers.”

Charlie Redmayne, the chief executive publisher at HarperCollins also shared a tribute to Bradford. Redmayne wrote, “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.”

Redmayne added that Bradford was “a natural storyteller” but she was also “a great, great friend.”

It is with much sadness that we confirm the death of our beloved author Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE.https://t.co/pxGI8meZ7s pic.twitter.com/pBW1sARwM0

— HarperCollinsUK (@HarperCollinsUK) November 25, 2024

Bradford was born in Leeds where she read a lot of books. She became a published author for the first time at age 10 when she had a story published in a children’s magazine. By age 15, she had dropped out of school to work for Yorkshire Evening Post as a typist and copytaker.

While she was there, she would slip her own stories into the sub-editor’s tray, sneakily getting her work published. Her trick eventually paid off, and she was promoted to journalist. At the time, she was the only female reporter at Yorkshire Evening Post.

It wasn’t until she was in her 40s that she started writing fiction. In 2017, she told The Guardian, “When I wrote A Woman of Substance I didn’t sit down and think, I’m going to write about a woman warrior who conquers the world and smashes the glass ceiling, but I did want to write about women in a positive way.”

Watch the video below to learn more about Bradford and the sad news of her death.