Product Description

Thirty years ago, the world was introduced to Emma Harte who instantly became an iconic figure of our time. Now meet the inspirational M, a new Woman of Substance guaranteed to win our hearts all over again ! When those you love are threatened, there's nothing you won't do to protect them! you'll even resort to Breaking the Rules. Following a terrifying encounter in the quiet English countryside, a dark beauty flees to New York in search of a new life. Adopting the initial M as her name, she embarks on a journey that will lead her to the catwalks of Paris where she becomes the muse and star model to France's iconic top designer Jean-Louis Tremont. When M meets charming and handsome actor Larry Vaughan they fall instantly in love with one another. Soon they become the most desired couple on the international scene, appearing on the front cover of every celebrity magazine, adored by millions. With a successful career and a perfect marriage, M believes she has truly put the demons of her past to bed. But M's fortunes are about to take another dramatic turn when a dark figure from her past, someone who she thought she'd never see again, is back and determined to shatter M's world forever. From the chic fashion capitals of London and Paris, to the exotic locations of Istanbul and Hong Kong, Breaking the Rules is an enthralling story of love and redemption, secrets and survival from the bestselling author of A Woman of Substance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3706 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 496 pages

Review
Praise for Barbara Taylor Bradford: 'The storyteller of substance' The Times 'Queen of the genre' Sunday Times 'Few novelists are as consummate as Barbara Taylor Bradford at keeping the reader turning the page. She is one of the world's best at spinning yarns' Guardian 'Memorable and moving!a sure-fire winner' Express

About the Author
Barbara Taylor Bradford was born in Leeds, and by the age of twenty was an editor and columnist on Fleet Street. Her first novel, A Woman of Substance, became an enduring bestseller and was followed by twenty others, most recently Just Rewards. Her books have sold more than eighty-one million copies worldwide in more than ninety countries and forty languages, and ten mini-series and television movies have been made of her books. In October of 2007, Barbara was appointed an OBE by the Queen for her services to literature. She lives in New York City with her husband, television producer Robert Bradford.

Customer Reviews

Stirring Comeback For A Legendary Author
I've been a reader of Barbara Taylor Bradford novels for... well 30 years. Her debut, A Woman Of Substance might as well be the official novel of Great Britain. It's everything you want a good book to be. Triumph, tragedy, romance, history and redemption. The thing is, when your first book is THAT good, what do you do for an encore? In Bradford's case, you write 24 more novels over the next 29 years - some exceptional, some just okay - but none of them equaling the classic debut.

Now comes Breaking The Rules. It's a book that the publisher hypes as "a new woman of substance" with whom we will all fall in love, just like Emma Harte in the original. Lofty catalogue copy for sure, but realistically, how does Breaking The Rules stack up to Bradford's other 23 novels not called A Woman Of Substance? And how does it compare to the five other sequels in the Harte series? Dare I say it, but this one may be the best of the lot.

Here's why...

Breaking The Rules is surprising fresh. It's not a literal sequel to the series with rich Harte girls inheriting and running a department store empire. Instead, this book opens with a mysterious sexual assault on an unnamed woman in the woods of England. She escapes with her life and flees to New York City, seeking to begin a new, anonymous life. She floats around lower Manhattan, makes a few friends and tries her hand at modeling. "M" as she calls herself, is blessed with Audrey Hepburn good-looks and wonderful poise in front of a camera. She soon wins favor with a fashion photographer and her career slowly takes off. Meanwhile, "M" also gets swept off her feet by renown English actor, Larry Vaughan.

All is not perfect, however. "M" still bears the scars of her assault back home. And Larry suffers a relapse on prescription meds. He nearly dies. "M" then learns that the fashion photographer with whom she won favor has died in a car accident in Europe. Her climb to the top is not without obstacles.

In the second half of the book, we learn that "M" is actually the youngest daughter of Paula O'Neil (heroine of Hold The Dream & To Be The Best). "M" achieves stardom - an overnight supermodel - but someone is stalking her and her family. A catwalk mysteriously collapses in Paris. A bomb explodes inside Harte's department store. Older sister Tessa is seriously injured in an explosion at home.

But whom? And why?

The final act in this dramatic story is a satisfying investigation into the source of all the tumult and a plot of ultimate revenge against the psychopath who has plagued the family throughout this epic series.

Breaking The Rules certainly breaks the mold of recent Bradford novels. "M" may not be nearly as remarkable as her namesake (Emma Harte), but she is surely a fascinating heroine. M's ascent from the depths of humiliation to the height of stardom is one we can all root for. And the cameo appearances of series favorites like Paula O'Neil, Jack Figg, Linett O'Neil and Jonathan Ainsley help bring the story full circle.

Nothing will ever quite compare to the original, but Breaking The Rules may be the most satisfying and beautifully written book Bradford has penned in the years since 1979.

Without a Substance
Breaking the Rules

I bought this new book by Ms Bradford as I still remember a captivating "A Woman of Substance", I liked "The Ravenscar Dynasty" and was amused by "Three Weeks in Paris".
If I only knew what a struggle I would endure to reach the end of this book!

I would have certainly suffered alone (it's not the end of the world), but then I read 5-star review of this book and decided I would have to share my opinion with others who might want to buy the book.

In my opinion, this time the author's endevour to create an image of an anonymous girl "M", resurrected from the depths of humiliation to the heights of glamour, was buried under a shallow plot, uninteresting characters, excessive and tiring descriptions of their appearances, lots of cliches from her previous books, lack of witty and meaningful dialogues - the whole overwritten story does not seem convincing. A book without a substance.

Dull
I've read the synopsis on a cover and decided to buy it to read on the train. I was bored after 50 pages, but forced myself to read to the end, it wasn't easy!
The plot is surprisingly dull, lacking anything resembling depth or sophistication, sense of fun or imagination.

Repetitive glorification of characters does not work as the plot fails to give them anything to do or say.

Thick book poorly written!

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