The Cavendon Women

‘If you’ve been suffering withdrawal symptoms from Downton, this is for you’ Daily Mail

A stately home. The roaring twenties. And four spirited girls who must forge a new future for themselves.

On a summer weekend in 1926 the Ingham family gathers at the great house in Yorkshire that has been their family home for centuries. With them are the Swanns who have served them for generations – and know all their secrets.

The estate is under threat: the aftermath of the Great War has left it facing ruin. Four young women from both sides of the house must shape its future – Daphne, fighting to modernise her ancestral home; Cecily Swann, flying high as a fashion designer in London; Deidre, the career girl, and Dulcie, the outspoken debutante. As the roaring twenties burn towards the Great Depression, nothing will ever be the same again…

Reviews

Praise for Barbara Taylor Bradford:

‘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

‘As romantic and thrilling as the rest’ Independent on Sunday

‘Another great yarn from the ultimate storyteller’ The Sun

‘An extravagant, absorbing novel of love, courage, ambition, war, death and passion.’
New York Times

About the author

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.