Emma's Secret

By: Barbara Taylor Bradford

Narrated by: Kate Burton

Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

The legendary Emma Harte, heroine of A Woman of Substance, returns in Emma's Secret, an audiobook that showcases the storytelling power of Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Paula O'Neill, beloved granddaughter of Emma Harte and the guardian of her vast business empire, believes that everything Emma left to the family is secure. However, beneath the surface, sibling rivalry and discontent flare. Linnet and Tessa, her daughters, are as different as two women can be. One of them wants desperately for the empire to be hers but has a devastating secret that may put her very life in danger.

Into this volatile mix walks Evan Hughes, a young American fashion designer who is looking for Emma Harte. But Emma has been dead for thirty years. And Evan bears an uncanny resemblance to Paula O'Neill. Troubled by Evan's presence, Paula turns to her grandmother's recently discovered wartime diaries to find the truth, and Emma comes vividly back to life.

The decades fall away. It is London in 1940: the Blitz. Emma, working hard under war-time conditions, is also holding her family together as bombs drop, sirens wail, and her sons go off to war. While she struggles with grief, her indomitability, willpower, and strength come to the fore. As the pages unfurl, Paula discovers the secret Emma took to the grave to protect others, a secret whose repercussions inevitably change lives and may shake a dynasty to its very foundations.

©2004 Beaji Enterprises, Inc. (P)2011 Macmillan

Critic reviews

“Emma Harte is one of those characters whom we never want to leave behind, and thank goodness Bradford has brought her back to us with a story worthy of this truly remarkable woman.” —RT Book Reviews

“Barbara Taylor Bradford has woven yet another enchanting episode in the continuing saga of the Harte family .... It is no surprise that Barbara Taylor Bradford's books have sold more than 70 million copies in over ninety countries and forty different languages.” —Bookreporter.com

“This story has suspense, intrigue and high drama as Bradford reels the listener in with period details. Kate Reading has a cornucopia of voices. She easily slips into an upper-class English accent, adds pomposity for some of the English gentlemen, and then switches back to Evan's American accent. Although this is the present-day sequel to Bradford's trilogy that began with A Woman of Substance, it can stand alone.” —KLIATT

Hart Dynasty story telling of the secrets

If you could sum up Emma's Secret in three words, what would they be?

Facinating, empowering,excellent

What other book might you compare Emma's Secret to and why?

A woman of substance is the beginning of the Harte Empire and the challenges and courage to build an empire and the family tree which Emma's secret is part of.

What does Kate Burton bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The voice relating to the experiences of the family.

Who was the most memorable character of Emma's Secret and why?

Paula who was the granddaughter of the originator of the Harte empire because she was the one who set up the meeting of the clan and found out where Emma was in the family tree who her father was and that she was an offspring of the dynasty.

Emma's Secret

Ms Bradfgord is very clever to be able to weave another relation into the Harte family. Its good to hear of Emma's grandchildren and the legacy, this being an abridgement a couple of parts were missing, ie, Tessa's husbands reaction, Jonathan's reaction and most of all Owen's reaction to Emma's Secret.

I really enjoy Kate Burton's narration in this and other stories she has read