Emma Harte is the protagonist of

Barbara Taylor Bradford Barbara Taylor Bradford (born 10 May 1933) is a best-selling British-American novelist. Her debut novel, '' A Woman of Substance'', was published in 1979 and sold over 30 million copies worldwide. She wrote 39 novels, all bestsellers in Engla ...

's 1979 novel '' A Woman of Substance''. In the 1984

TV mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. " Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

, the character was played by actresses

Deborah Kerr Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress. During her international film career, Kerr won a G ...

and

Jenny Seagrove Jennifer Ann Seagrove (born 4 July 1957) is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and first came to attention playing the lead in a television dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's '' A Woman of Substance'' ...

. Emma Harte's story begins as a maid at Fairley Hall when she is 14 years old. She falls in love with her master's son, Edwin Fairley. She becomes pregnant and he "lets her down" by refusing to marry her. She flees to Leeds at 15, so as not to disgrace her father and brothers. In

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, Emma seeks out her friend Blackie O'Neil. Her daughter Edwina is born when she is 16 years old. After more than a year of scrimping, saving, working day and night and creating a home business on the side, she finally saves enough to open her own shop. It is the beginning of an empire so vast she eventually buys everything the Fairleys own. There are seven books written by

in the Emma Harte series: * '' A Woman of Substance'' * '' Hold the Dream'' * ''To Be The Best'' * ''Emma's Secret'' * ''Unexpected Blessings'' * ''Just Rewards'' * ''Breaking the Rules''

External links

* http://www.barbarataylorbradford.com/ Literary characters introduced in 1979 Characters in British novels of the 20th century Fictional maids Female characters in literature {{novel-char-stub