In 1979 Barbara Taylor Bradford published her first novel, A Woman of Substance. Bradford’s saga formed the basis of a dynasty—both for its protagonist, Emma Harte, whose story would eventually span six novels—but more importantly for Bradford whose novel sold 25 million copies worldwide and became one of the top 10 best-selling fictional works of all time. Emma, like other literary heroines such as Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice to Helen Fielding’s contemporary feminist, Bridget Jones, portrayed a spirited woman making her way in a male dominated world. But unlike her literary sisters who sought fulfillment through the Holy Grail of marriage, Emma was a woman who not only overcame adversity and became rich in the process but did so with the same grit and machinations of any man. A Woman of Substance was a worldwide sensation, translated into some forty languages and giving its readers the mantra, “If Emma can do it, so can I.”