Women in His Life (MM to TR Promotion) [Paperback]

Barbara Taylor Bradford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 1997

A Main Selection of the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club
He is Maximilian West--billionaire tycoon and corporate raider extraordinaire. He is a figure of almost mythical power--an enigma to all who know him. But when his world is suddenly shattered, Maxim must make peace with his turbulent past and begin to understand the remarkable women who have loved and protected him.
From the streets of London to the suites of New York, from the rise of Nazi Germany to the fall of the Berlin Wall, THE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE takes us on an unforgettable journey of survival, secrets, love and redemption that mesmerizes from first page to last.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For the first time using a man as her protagonist, Bradford gives us a cliched love story nearly indistinguishable from her previous ( A Woman of Substance ) hefty novels. Tycoon Maximilian West, workaholic founder of a multinational financial empire, is endowed with "personal magnetism," "fatal charm," "charisma" and "presence" but is emotionally obtuse with the women who adore him. Born Maxim Wertheim in Berlin, he is brought to London in 1939 by his loving nursemaid; his parents die in concentration camps. Forging a brilliant business career, he marries a glamorous Frenchwoman, eventually losing her to the demands of his career; two more wives and assorted mistresses fail to bring him happiness. In one of the clunkier epiphanies in commercial novels, he finally understands the reason for his increasing anomie, and, not to our surprise, wins the woman of his heart. Bradford is more adept at describing opulent furniture, clothing and food, and in providing capsule tours of posh neighborhoods in London, New York, Berlin, Paris, Venice and Morocco than she is in delineating the personalities of her characters, whose insights about themselves and others are so superficial as to verge on the ludicrous. But her legions of readers undoubtedly will be satisfied by the romantic fortunes of the cultured, wealthy and powerful people whose lives she evokes with lavish sentiment. BOMC selection.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

'Legions of readers will be satisfied by the romantic fortunes of the cultured, wealthy and powerful people she evokes' Publishers Weekly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (June 23, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345418603
• ISBN-13: 978-0345418609
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,325,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD

Barbara Taylor Bradford, OBE is one of the world's best loved storytellers. Her 1979 debut novel, A Woman of Substance, ranks as one of the top-ten bestselling books of all-time, with more than 30 million copies in print. All 25 of her novels to date have been major worldwide bestsellers. Her 26th book, Playing The Game, will be published on October 12th by St. Martin's Press.

Bradford was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire (UK) as the only child of Freda and Winston Taylor. She grew up in the Leeds suburb of Armley and after Town Street Church of England School worked in the typing pool at the Yorkshire Evening Post before going into journalism. By the age of twenty she was the fashion editor of Woman's Own Magazine and an editor and columnist on Fleet Street for the London Evening News.

Bradford's books have sold more than eighty-two (82) million copies worldwide in more than ninety (90) countries and forty (40) languages. Ten (10) of her books have been made into miniseries and television movies, making her one of the best-selling authors over the last 30 years.

In April of 2003, Mrs. Bradford was inducted into the Writers Hall of Fame of America alongside Mark Twain, Langston Hughes and Dr. Seuss. She was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list for her contributions to literature. Her original manuscripts are archived at the Brotherton Library at Leeds University, alongside the works of the Bronte sisters. In 2009, Barbara's publishers began a worldwide 30th anniversary celebration of A Woman of Substance. The first annual Woman of Substance Awards took place on September 10th 2009 at the Dorchester Hotel in London. She lives in New York City with her husband, of 43 years, television producer Robert Bradford.

Her official website is: www.barbarataylorbradford.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing Saga, November 13, 2004

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Women in His Life (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a wonderful read, a big saga of a story which spans the years from Nazi Germany of 1939 to 1989, and features a cast of players both interesting and glamorous.

Maximilian West is the son of aristocratic, wealthy German Jewish parents, Ursula and Sigmund West, who absolutely idolise the clever, lovable little boy, and make him the centre of their universe. He is cared for by his Nanny, Teddy Stein, the educated daughter of their former friend and physician. When the Nazis begin their reign of terror in Berlin, rounding up and murdering the Jewish population, Sigmund sends Ursula, Teddy and Maxim to Paris to escape, intending to join them shortly. When he is prevented from doing so,Ursula leaves Maxim in the care of Teddy with instructions to take him to safety in England while she returns to be with her husband.The Wests had tansferred large amounts of money to their English bank so that Teddy is able to have the little boy educated properly and so that they want for nothing.After the war, they learn of the tragic deaths of the Wests in concentration camps, so Teddy continues to be Maxims' guardian until he comes of age. After finishing his education, Maxim proves to be a brilliant businessman and forges a vast empire which makes him a multi billionaire but also starts him on a rocky track with women, marrying three times and with many mistresses and love affairs. The story climaxes with the collpse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and, apart from one very short section, is a tale of wealth, glamour, beautiful people with beautiful clothes and houses. In short, it's a book to read when you want to feel surrounded by luxury and opulence....not a poor person in sight! I loved it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Can't live with 'em, can't live without `em, December 24, 2007

By 

Hinkle Goldfarb (R.R. 1 Highway 162, Butte City, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Women in His Life (Hardcover)

Maximilian West thinks about the women in his life as he lies critically injured, his thoughts taking him back to his youth in pre-WWII Germany and England, then on to his life as an adult in Europe. More of a fictional history of Mr. West than a study of the main women in his life, it's still a fairly consistently entertaining novel, worth the effort to read.

However, for me at least, for a book about a business tycoon it was awfully thin on the business side, the wheeling and dealing, hostile takeovers, buyouts, tender offers, boardroom antics, politicians bribed and competitors beaten, and awfully thick on who was wearing what type of designer dress and what style someone's 5th Avenue apartment was decorated in. But maybe that's a bit of a mismatch between the book's target audience and me. You be the judge.

4.0 out of 5 stars Who Makes a Man?, September 16, 2009

By 

Nash Black "Troubadour" (Jamestown, KY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Women in His Life (Mass Market Paperback)

It is difficult for an author to sustain a string of block busters in a new direction. Barbara Taylor Bradford's THE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE is one of her better efforts, but the story of Maximilian West and the women who have loved and protected him tells more about Max than these strong women.

The story spans the years from the rise of Nazi Germany to the fall of the Berlin Wall and is interesting for a historical perspective.

A late afternoon read.

Nash Black, author of Indie finalists WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and HAINTS.