A Woman of Substance by bestselling popular novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford (
Wikipedia) is the 1st in her vintage Harte Family Saga of sweeping generational epic drama novels with romantic elements, this one establishing the early trials and eventual rags-to-riches rise to fortune of the strong-willed woman who would become the Harte family matriarch, free courtesy of publisher RosettaBooks who are e-printing it from its original 1979 Doubleday hardcover edition.
This is RosettaBooks' Valentine's Day countdown selection giveaway freebie for the 13th and according to Wikipedia is actually one of the top 10 bestselling novels of all time, making it notable enough to have its own entry (
Wikipedia), and has also been adapted into an eponymous television mini-series (
Wikipedia), which you might have fond memories of if you were watching TV in the 80s.
Currently free, just for today @ Amazon (available to Canadians; HarperCollins appears to still have the e-book rights to this in many other places in the world when I spot-check, but YMMV and you may luck out in your locale).
ETA: This is now being offered free courtesy of HarperCollins' Harper imprint, which seems to have the other worldwide rights for it @
Amazon UK &
iTunes UK &
Google Play &
Kobo (available to the UK & Japan when I spot-checked assorted regional stores, YMMV)
And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.
Because not only is it nifty to get the 1st-in-series free after having received the 2nd a few days ago, it's also a fairly major-back-in-the-day novel kicking off a popular series by a bestselling author and while it may not be to every Gentle Reader's taste, it's really nice to be getting something this retro-significant in pop-cultural terms.
Also, RosettaBooks has been pretty generous with the freebies this year, and hopefully they continue doing their Valentine's Day countdown (and maybe also some other holiday seasonal promos) again next year and garner many more new readers for their quality backlist offerings*.
(* Which, I will remind you, are generally couponable @ Kobo/eligible for discounts/rebates at other retailers which offer such, with the titles they haven't gone Amazon-exclusive with.)
Enjoy!
Description
One of the top ten bestselling novels ever written with more than 32 million copies sold!
This record-shattering New York Times bestseller was Barbara Taylor Bradford’s breakout novel. It tells the story of a determined woman who will face betrayal from those closest to her, as well as the loss of a great love, only to emerge triumphant.
From the servants’ quarters of a manor house on the brooding Yorkshire moors to the helm of a profitable international business, Emma Harte’s life is a sweeping saga of unbreakable spirit and resolve. Rising from abject poverty to glittering wealth at the upper echelons of society, there is only one man the indomitable Emma cannot have--and only one she yearns for. The novel was also the subject of a popular 1984 miniseries starring Jenny Seagrove and Deborah Kerr.