Act Of Will - Softcover

Bradford, Barbara T

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007874944 ISBN 13: 9780007874941

Publisher: HARPERCOLLINS

Synopsis

"Tycoon versus student. . . role model versus rebel. . . mother versus daughter", Audra thought, smothering a sigh. Well, it wasn't the first time a mother and daughter were at odds with each other. Audra had been an impoverished children's nanny from Leeds, and had sacrificed everything for her only daughter Christine. Christine was a talented art student who had won world renown as a fashion designer, with her own house of fashion in New York. Kyle is her daughter, rebellious chafing against the restraints of her mother's success, as her grandmother's spirit of duty and sacrifice is reborn in her. A sparkling compulsive story that moves from the bleak Yorkshire Dales to London and the glamorous world of New York haute couture.

About this title

From the Back Cover

From beloved bestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford comes the enthralling saga of three generations of extraordinary women—of the fate that befalls them, and the choices that define their lives...

IN THE NAME OF LOVE.
Orphaned after the death of her mother, well-bred Audra Kenton rose from selfless nurse to servant of an affluent suffragette, to a fiercely independent bride whose passionate marriage was overtaken by an unforeseeable tragedy. Now Audra has but one dream—to bestow upon her brilliantly artistic daughter, every opportunity that she was denied...

AT THE HEART OF AMBITION.
Given the world, the stubborn Christina has forsaken the wishes of her noble mother to forge the career of her choice—that of a glittering Manhattan fashion empire she hopes to bequeath to her own daughter. But in young and beautiful Kyle stirs a spirit that is inherently headstrong, equally independent, and just as ironically resistant to the sacrifices made in the name of love.

FOR THE SAKE OF A DREAM.
From the picturesque Yorkshire Dales to the haute couture luxuries of Paris and London to the bittersweet respite of home and family, three women face stunning betrayals and astonishing reversals of fate as each brings her own intimate struggle to their need of personal success and to a triumphant and heartening understanding of devotion, duty, and destiny.

“This novel continues the Bradford tradition of spirited romances peopled with memorable, self made women...fetching.”—Booklist

From Publishers Weekly

Though enjoyable, Bradford's latest novel lacks the sweep and grandeur that characterized her bestsellers, A Woman of Substance and Hold the Dream. Left to the indifferent care of an aunt after the death of her mother, well-bred Audra Kenton is sent to work at Yorkshire's Fever Hospital, where she trains as a nurse before taking a post in the home of an affluent suffragette. Though she captures the heart of a handsome bounder, Audra's independent spirit is not much appreciated by her working-class husband, and the two clash fiercely over her encouragement of their daughter's artistic genius. Audra's ceaseless efforts backfire, though, when Christina tries to repay the debt by choosing a lucrative career in fashion. With its trademark painted silk garments, the House of Christina is an instant success. But handing the flourishing business on to her only daughter proves harder than Christina expected, since Kyle, in her turn, rejects the world her mother has carved out to seek her own path as an artist. While written in a comparatively minor key, this is a light, pleasing tale of three generations, marked by ironic twists of fate and finely etched period detail. (June 20pSLAVES OF NEW YORK Tama Janowitz. Crown, $15.95
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HARPERCOLLINS
• ISBN 10: 0007874944
• ISBN 13: 9780007874941
• Binding: Paperback