EMMA'S SECRET by BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD

 EMMA'S SECRET

by

BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD

THE BLURB:

Paula O' Neil, beloved granddaughter of Emma Harte, believes that the business empire Emma left to the family is secure. However, beneath the surface, tension is mounting and sibling rivalry brewing.

Into this volatile mix walks Evan Hughes, a young American fashion designer. Her grandmother's dying wish was that Evan find Emma Harte. But Emma has been dead for thirty years...

Troubled by Evan's presence, and her uncanny resemblance to the family, Paula turns to Emma's war-time diaries.

Emma Harte comes back vividly to life. It is London during the Blitz. As bombs drop, sirens wail and her sons go off to war, Emma's trademark resilience, willpower and strength all come to the fore. And as the pages unfurl, Paula discovers the secret Emma took to the grave.

THE REALITY:

It was another case of second time around for me, as I first read this follow-up- the fourth in the A Woman of Substance (my favourite book of all time) series around 20 years ago.  Meh. At the time I gave it a three-out-of-five rating on Amazon, and the same applies. Yes, I know that no book in this particular series is ever going to be as good as my favourite, but Barbara Taylor Bradford's style has changed since her first few tomes (AWoS, Act of Will and Voice of the Heart) in that it's not so “adjectival” as she liked to describe her evolving style. And I like adjectival, or purple prose, or whatever you want to call it compared to what's in fashion nowadays. My main gripe, however, is that the characters in this book are all two-dimensional, beautiful, wealthy and intelligent too good to be true “perfect” human beings, with the odd heavy-handed protagonist thrown in for a good measure. The same seems to be true of all of her later work.

I liked the concept of Emma's hidden diaries, and enjoyed the suspense of guessing who the father of Glynnis's baby was, and the discovery of the key to the wooden casket. I was intrigued as to why Evan looked very much like either Paula or the Harte side of the family. Being something of a fashionista I also enjoyed the details of the vintage fashion show, and the descriptives involving Emma's homes, but the storyline was lacking rather than gripping. I found the complete reams of copying Winston Churchill's famous wartime speeches lazy and boring; although I was moved by details of the Holocaust, and what was discovered with the liberation of the concentration camps (and really, these are things that everybody should know about).

But the thing that grated on me the most was the lack of continuity from A Woman of Substance. In that book Emma had chestnut/ russet hair- why is she now a complete redhead? In that book she was pregnant at 16- why now does she recall being pregnant at 15? In that book she refused to marry David as she didn't want to devastate his orthodox mother, who wanted her son to marry within the Jewish faith. Okay, she later didn't want to break up his marriage when he asked her if there was still a chance for him, but why now was there emphasis on the latter? These differences grate- if an author is going to write a sequel, then they should at least re-read the first book to get their facts right. Also, the final scene where Evan gets mugged seems totally unnecessary to the story (unless it becomes something to do with the next book in the series, and there are two more).  I also would have liked to see Emma have a little bit of romance, rather than continually grieving for Paul.  Yes, I know he was the love of her life but... life is for the living, and your 50s are not too old for a bit of passion! (In fact, no age is....😉)

The saving graces were the interesting characterisations of both Glynnis and Tessa, for me, plus the fashion element. But, all in all, a bit... meh.