Emma's Secret (Bradford, Barbara Taylor) [BARGAIN PRICE] (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "It was a blustery morning..." (more)
Key Phrases: Emma Harte, Pennistone Royal, Evan Hughes (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Emma Harte, the heroine of Bradford's novel A Woman of Substance (1979), has been dead for more than 30 years when Emma's Secret opens, but her past factors heavily into the events of the novel. At the bequest of her dying grandmother, young American Evan Hughes arrives at Emma's magnificent English clothing store, Hartes, only to find out that Emma has long since died. She is soon hired as a store assistant to Linnet O'Neill, Emma's great-granddaughter, who can't help but notice the American's resemblance to her own mother, Paula. Evan and Gideon Harte, Paula's cousin, fall in love amid whispers that Evan might be the descendant of one of Emma's husbands. The truth lies in Emma's diary, but Paula is reluctant to read it. Curiosity finally gets the better of her, and the journal takes Paula to Emma's life during World War II, and at least partially answers the family's questions about Evan's heritage. It is up to Paula to figure out the rest. Readers new to the series might have a hard time getting a handle on the large cast of characters and their relationships to each other, but those familiar with Emma Harte and her large family will feel right at home. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• ISBN-10: 0312307020
• ASIN: B000BNYA48
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,128,656 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not much of a secret!, April 13, 2005

By	Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Emma's Secret (Mass Market Paperback)

For many years I tried and tried to read A Woman of Substance. And while I read many of this authors other books, this title always eluded me and remained on a list of books I was someday determined to read. The beginning of 2005 saw me finally read this book or shall I say skim many pages since almost from the beginning I found the book too wordy and overly descriptive for me. When I finished it, I thought I read about as much concerning Emma Harte as I wanted to. Then other readers from my book group began talking about Bradford's new book Emma's Secret which filled in Emma's doings during the war years. And somehow I was enticed by the lure of this secret about Emma's past and finally decided to listen to audio of this book. Unfortunately by the time I finished the 12 CD's, I found there wasn't much of secret after all.

As Evan Hughes' grandmother Glynnis lies on her deathbed, Glynnis tells Evan to find Emma Harte in London. That this woman holds the key to Evan's future. Evan who bears a striking resemblance to Emma's beloved granddaughter Paula, journeys to London when her grandmother dies and is heartbroken when she learns that Emma has been dead for over 30 years. But not to worry. Evan is hired to be Paula's daughter's assistant and is not only taken in by a couple of Emma's great granddaughter's but becomes romantically engaged with another Harte, Gideon. While the rest of the family is also quite taken with Evan, most of all her looks they quickly realize that she isn't any relationship to the late Paul McGill, Paula's grandfather. And what could be better than when two of Emma's great granddaughters find her diaries from the war years. From there the story progresses to the end when we find out the secret which I'm afraid wasn't much of a secret after all. And while the main story is about Evan and her father's true background, there are also the familiar threads of a large family fighting over who will become the number one heir when Paula retires or dies. And as every wealthy family in books, at least, has to have a bad seed, Jonathn Ainsley is back with his hopes of somehow controlling Harte industries.

A stickler for reading all of the books in a series and always in order I wondered if I would miss reading the two books in between this title. But much to Ms. Bradford's credit, she does fill in her readers with events from all three previous books, A Woman of Substance, To Be the Best and Hold the Dream. But once again I found Emma's Secret like A Woman of Substance to be overly wordy and descriptive. Do I really care for all of the folds and creases of Emma's couture clothing collection or her objets d'art found in her Belgravia home or Pennistone Royal? In the end I imagine that the author missed her favorite character, Emma, and this was a convenient way to return to yesteryear and provide her loyal Emma Harte readers with another book. But on the plus side if you like large family trees and a family saga over many years, this book is definitely for you. But for me the lure of another new Emma book, Unexpected Blessings isn't enough of a lure. I'm afraid that I have reached the end of my time with Emma Harte and her family. I will continue to read family sagas since I do enjoy them but Emma and her families days for me are over and not a day too soon, I'm afraid.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible, June 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Emma's Secret (Hardcover)

This book was very disappointing. So many things could have been developed to make it exciting but none of them ever were.
The book doesnt seem to really have any ending. It felt like the last chapter must have been left out. I have read Bradford before and this has got to be her worst.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Woman of Substance this is not, May 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Emma's Secret (Hardcover)

I read Woman of Substance for the first time MANY years ago. I enjoyed it so much that I've read it several times since then... The sequels (i.e., Hold the Dream and To Be the Best) weren't as captivating as the original but they were 'good reads' nonetheless...

Emma's Secret is not of the calibre of those books. There isn't much of a story ... Emma's "secret "isn't really anything big or shocking... I think the only thing that I did enjoy was knowing more about Emma's family

The things that really bugged me about this book:

- It ends abruptly. When it ended, I actually flipped through it to make sure that I didn't miss any pages.

- For a sequel, it has SO MANY inconsistencies with the other books that you have to wonder if B.T.Bradford ever read her own books.

For example... they mention that Paula's father fired Jonathan and Sarah (they say it more than once) ... but we know that it was really Alexander ... someone finds a picture of 'Big Jack' and Winstor Sr.... and winston was wearing his 'navy uniform' .. but Jack and Winston never met after winston ran off to join the navy...

anyhow, there are numerous such inconsistences that really make it difficult for a 'fan' of the original books to take this book seriously