Master of His Fate
From Victorian London to the vibrant port cities of England and France, from gracious stately homes in Gloucestershire to the decadence of Paris, Master of his Fate launches an unforgettable new historical series.
London 1884: Queen Victoria is Empress of India and Britain is at its peak of worldwide power.
James Falconer works as a barrow boy in a flourishing London market owned by Henry Malvern. But James hungers for more. Turning away from family tradition, he dreams of building an empire of stores like Fortnum and Mason’s and believes that Henry, along with his daughter and heir Alexis, could offer him a way to climb beyond his beginnings.
But tragedy and betrayal threaten the dreams of both James and Alexis – and jeopardise everything they hold dear…
Barbara Taylor Bradford was born and raised in Leeds. She left school at 15 for the typing pool at the Yorkshire Evening Post.
At 16, she became a reporter on the paper and, at 18, its first Woman’s Editor. Aged 20, she moved to London and became a columnist and editor on Fleet Street.
Her first novel, A Woman of Substance, is one of the bestselling novels of all time and Barbara’s books have sold more than 90 million copies worldwide. In 2007, Barbara was appointed an OBE by the Queen for her services to literature.
Barbara was married to her beloved husband, television and film producer Robert Bradford, for 55 years until he died in 2019. She continued to live in New York and write novels, her last entitled The Wonder of It All, until she died in November 2024.