About the Author

BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, and was a reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post at sixteen. By the age of twenty, she had become both an editor and a columnist on London’s Fleet Street. In 1979, she wrote her first novel, A Woman of Substance, and that enduring bestseller was followed by sixteen others, most recently The Triumph of Katie Byrne. Ten have been made into television miniseries and movies of the week. Her novels have sold more than 61 million copies in 89 countries and 39 languages worldwide. She lives in New York City with her husband, producer Robert Bradford.

Reviews

In Bradford's latest, four women who became friends and then enemies while studying together in Paris must face one another at a school reunion. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

The bestselling grande dame of popular women's fiction is back with her 18th book, after The Triumph of Katie Byrne. Replete with mystery, romance, secrets and conflict, Bradford's latest examines the lives of four women, alumni of an exclusive arts school in Paris, who must confront their stormy pasts when they are invited to attend a special birthday party. Anya Sedgwick, the indomitable doyenne of the school, wants her four favorite pupils to repair their destroyed friendship and help celebrate her 85th birthday. With the exception of Anya, however, none of the protagonists are the sparkling, unforgettable characters Bradford is usually so adept at crafting. Three of the four women, at the apex of their careers only seven years out of school, seem to blend into each other despite their disparate backgrounds. Alexandra is a renowned set designer; Kay has become a successful couturier; Jessica is a top interior designer; and Maria, whose biggest challenge is to lose a considerable amount of weight before the reunion, is slogging away at the family textile business, with a promising painting career on the side. There is some pathos in Kay's background, but the author glosses over the trauma of early sexual abuse; in fact, most of the tensions in the book are glossed over. Even the spat that tore the four apart is a trifle. But Bradford's knack for depicting elegant surroundings and happy-ever-after romance should satisfy most of her fans. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.