Barbara Taylor Bradford's first novel, A Woman of Substance, which was published in 1980, quickly became a huge international success. In conversation with Roy Plomley, she recalls her childhood in Leeds, her first job as a reporter on the Yorkshire Evening Post at the age of 16, becoming a Fleet Street journalist, and her eventual move to New York.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Jerusalem by Blake/Parry