by
BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD
THE BLURB:
Orphaned and alone, 13-year-old Shane O'Neill, known to the world as Blackie, must leave County Kerry to find work.
His only chance of survival lies with his late mother's brother, far away in Leeds. There, amid the noise and bustle, Blackie's spark of ambition becomes a flame.
And then, high on the Yorkshire moors, in the mists of a winter morning, he meets a kitchen maid called Emma Harte. And as the Victorian age gives way to the freedom of the Edwardian age, so a young man and a servant girl seize a chance, against the odds, to build a better life...
THE REALITY:
This is the prequel to A Woman of Substance, which remains my most favourite book ever. I saw the first mini-series back in 1985, and it really moved me; I've since re-watched it several times, and read the book three times in total. Coincidentally, I also read A Man of Honour just as the new TV A Woman of Substance series was broadcast. This new series is extremely lacking and they've altered the storyline (for the worse!) and succumbed to ridiculous box-ticking. It's a parody of the original and, although some of the filming/ scenery is breathtaking, I think it's best avoided.
Back to this book, and I sped through it, really enjoying reading about what shaped Blackie (who ended up being Emma Harte's best friend- for those of you not in the know, she's our A Woman of Substance heroine). I did feel, however, that the storyline was rushed, and not properly expanded upon. For example we have Gwen, who disappears. But do we ever find out what happened to her? No, and it seems very odd to leave her story unfinished. Also, the courtship between Robert and Vanessa could have been explored in more depth, as could how his divorce from the rotten Lucinda panned out; and indeed her character in general. Angela's death seemed an all-too-convenient way of getting rid of her, and Blackie's feelings towards dealing with the loss of his first love (lust?!) were, unrealistically, not fully documented. Adrian's relationship with Moira was not looked into properly, and neither was her parentage or the reasons behind her mother's affair. This book was one long line of missed literary opportunities.
I did like many of the characters, however, and loved that Vanessa, Angela and Marguerite were sexually forward. I do love a hussy, and I'm glad that it's not assumed that all women form the early 1900s were morally upstanding when it came to following their hearts and bodies!
Finally, we get to the end chapters, where the Emma Harte, as we know her, is introduced. I know Barbara Taylor Bradford was in her late 80s when she wrote this book, but was she senile? Or was she drunk? There are serious discrepancies here! In AWOS Gerald Fairley was the elder son, and Edwin Fairley the second son- so why have these family placings now been reversed, with Edwin now documented as being the eldest? And why is Adele Fairley, who is mentioned as having silvery blonde hair in AWOS (a trait inherited by her ancestors; Edwina and Tessa) now a dark-haired woman? I think a ghostwriter may have written this book and, if that's the case, then they really should have read AWOS, and Barbara Taylor Bradford's editing team should have been on the ball. As we lead into Emma Harte's life, nothing particularly new is mentioned except that I don't think she would have told her landlady her father was still alive- it doesn't fit in with the original storyline, where she and her “husband” have no relatives between them. Also, the ending is a bit nondescipt.
This book is okay, but it could have been way, way, more.
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