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Title details for Emma's Secret by Barbara Taylor Bradford - Available

Emma's Secret

Harte Family Saga Series, Book 4

#4 in series

by Barbara Taylor Bradford
Kate Burton
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

The legendary Emma Harte, heroine of A Woman of Substance, returns in Emma's Secret, an audiobook that showcases the storytelling power of Barbara Taylor Bradford.
Paula O'Neill, beloved granddaughter of Emma Harte and the guardian of her vast business empire, believes that everything Emma left to the family is secure. However, beneath the surface, sibling rivalry and discontent flare. Linnet and Tessa, her daughters, are as different as two women can be. One of them wants desperately for the empire to be hers but has a devastating secret that may put her very life in danger.
Into this volatile mix walks Evan Hughes, a young American fashion designer who is looking for Emma Harte. But Emma has been dead for thirty years. And Evan bears an uncanny resemblance to Paula O'Neill. Troubled by Evan's presence, Paula turns to her grandmother's recently discovered wartime diaries to find the truth, and Emma comes vividly back to life.
The decades fall away. It is London in 1940: the Blitz. Emma, working hard under war-time conditions, is also holding her family together as bombs drop, sirens wail, and her sons go off to war. While she struggles with grief, her indomitability, willpower, and strength come to the fore. As the pages unfurl, Paula discovers the secret Emma took to the grave to protect others, a secret whose repercussions inevitably change lives and may shake a dynasty to its very foundations.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Emma Harte

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 11, 2012

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781593973988
      • File size: 150826 KB
      • Duration: 05:14:13

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 10, 2003
      It has been nearly 25 years since Bradford made her name with the female rags-to-riches saga A Woman of Substance
      , the first in a trilogy of novels that concluded with 1988's To Be the Best
      . Gambling that there is still life to be squeezed out of the story of indomitable super-survivor Emma Harte and her descendants, Bradford returns to the chase with this present-day sequel. The novel opens in 2001 at Pennistone Royal, Emma's magnificent country estate in Yorkshire, now occupied by her granddaughter Paula's family. Paula heads the Knightsbridge store, flagship of the nationwide Harte chain, and her grown daughters, Linnet and Tessa, work there. A young American, Evan Hughes, with an uncanny Harte family resemblance, appears one day seeking a job. She's hired at once, since Linnet needs help with an upcoming fashion spectacular, a retrospective featuring Emma's couture wardrobe. Linnet's cousin Gideon, who works for the Harte newspapers, is smitten with Evan, and soon the mystery of her background is of concern, especially when it's discovered that Evan's grandmother had a close relationship with Emma. The overwhelming amount of descriptive detail—clothing, interior decor, food and drink—slows down the narrative, but such Victorian props as a decorative locked box, a key taped behind a photograph and long-lost diaries provide mild suspense. The saga was already losing steam with To Be the Best
      , and this fourth installment is further diluted. Lacking the dynamic impact of the original, it will be best appreciated by those with an irresistible desire to follow the further adventures of the Harte clan. (Jan. 6)

      Forecast:
      A substantial 25th-anniversary marketing campaign will help rope in old fans, though some may find the series has lost its luster.
      True stalwarts, however, will be pleased to hear that another entry is in the works.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Bradford's novel continues the saga of the Harte family, begun with Emma Harte in A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE. On her deathbed Evan Hughes's grandmother tells her to go to London, where Emma Harte holds the key to her future. But Emma Harte has been dead for 30 years. In London, Evan turns up at a flagship store in Knightsbridge looking for a job. Everyone notices the resemblance between owner Paula O'Neill--Emma Hart's granddaughter--and the young American. When a cousin of Paula's is smitten with Emma, it becomes imperative to find out Evan's lineage. As Bradford lets the story unfold in the present and the past, Kate Reading divulges Emma's family secrets one by one in a soothing, languorous voice and soft accents. Reading performs each scene with practiced aplomb and lets the multifaceted story gradually reveal itself. Love, friendship, and family are the keys to the Hartes, their kin, and the past they guard so zealously. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Evan Hughes is told by her dying grandmother to "Find Emma Harte," founder of an internationally famous department store. Once in London, Evan finds the store brilliantly run by Emma's granddaughter but learns Emma died thirty years before. She snags a job at Harte's as a fashion assistant, and it's hard for anyone to miss Evan's striking resemblance to the Harte family. Speculation and rumors dissolve after Emma's diaries are discovered and her secret is revealed. Kate Burton's pleasing voice and impeccable diction precisely capture the mood, convincing accents, and personalities of the ultra-rich and famous. She handles sibling rivalries and romantic intrigues with finesse. While an abridgment doesn't do justice to this sprawling family saga, Barbara Taylor Bradford's fourth foray into Emma Harte's dynasty will doubtless please devotees. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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