A Woman of Substance

Determined to rise above all that she has ever known, a young and impoverished Emma Harte embarks on a journey first of survival, then of unimaginable achievement. Driven to succeed, the iron-willed Emma parlays a small shop into the world's greatest department store and an international business empire: Harte Enterprises.
Unhappily married twice, loving only the one man she can never marry, personal happiness eludes her. Harte Enterprises, the realization of her grand dreams, is her all: her heart, her soul, her life. When those closest to her threaten to destroy her empire through their greed and envy, Emma brilliantly outwits her enemies. She wreaks her devastating revenge on those who would betray her in a way only she knows how.
Drawing us into the mesmerizing life of a remarkable woman who dared to seize a dream and was willing to pay any price to make it come true, Barbara Taylor Bradford's deeply involving novel is a celebration of an indomitable spirit.

This time for Book club we are reading "A Woman of Substance" by Barbara Taylor Bradford. This book is going to be the Sept/Oct book, since its such a looooong book.

It is a good book, although I don't believe I would classify it as a favorite. It is about a young lady, Emma, who comes from the lowest of lowest class in the English Class system, and how she works her way to the very top and becomes a very rich and powerful woman. It is amazing how she was able to do what she did all on her own and still raise the five kids that she did.

My only thought with this book was that Emma was to busy making a living and securing her childrens future, to really enjoy life with her children. You know the saying "Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life." I feel that children should have to work at making their own living so their life is more fullfilled. Its just like John Wayne says in the movie McClintock to his daughter, about only giving her and her husband only a small percentage of what he actually owned, because he loved her. He says (I'm praphrasing here) that there is nothing more beautiful then what grows between a man and a woman with all the growing they do together when they have to work together for a common goal.

I feel that Emma's children always had all they ever needed, so they grew up to be wastes and only being greedy, that they didn't have the substance that their mother had in her. That was really my only beef with the book is how she neglected her children of a life with a loving and attentive mother, she gave them everything else.

This book is interesting in the climb and social change that Emma does and how she does it and it shows that anybody can do it you just have to set your mind to it.