A Sudden Change of Heart

In the blockbuster storytelling tradition that is Barbara Taylor Bradford’s hallmark, here is an extraordinary novel about a remarkable young woman and the people whose lives she touches. Laura Valiant is a successful art historian, running her own company. She and her husband, Doug, a Wall Street lawyer, share an idyllic marriage. But Laira’s trust in her husband is shaken when she discovers he has a secret life apart from her – a life which will rock their love. Clare Benson is Laura’s childhood friend. They’ve been together through thick and thin, good and bad. When Clare asks Laura the biggest favour and greatest honour of all – to be guardian to her teenage daughter, Natasha – Laura discovers her personal and professional lives become dramatically intertwined. But in true Valiant style, Laura rises to the challenges ahead and, eventually, succeeds in achieving the happiness and fulfilment she craves. “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 In the blockbuster storytelling tradition that is Barbara Taylor Bradford’s hallmark, here is an extraordinary novel about a remarkable young woman and the people whose lives she touches. At thirty-one Laura Valiant is a successful art historian who runs her own art advisory and acquisitions company. She and her husband Douglas Casson, a Wall Street lawyer, have a happy marriage marred only by the fact that they are still childless. But Laura’s life changes radically in 1997, when her best friend from childhood, Claire Benson, tells her she is dying. Claire, who is divorced, begs Laura to become her daughter Natasha’s guardian upon her death. Laura agrees and brings the fifteen-year-old girl to live with them in New York City after Claire dies. It is then that Laura’s troubles begin – with Natasha, with the girl’s father and grandmother, who suddenly reappear in her life, and with Douglas. Laura’s love and trust in her husband are shaken when she discovers he has a secret life apart from her. But it is her problems which force her to examine her own life, and this sets her on a path that inevitably leads her to a series of shattering truths. These revelations give Laura the chance to start a whole new life which promises to give her the happiness and fulfilment she craves. From the streets of Paris and London to the art galleries and art auctions of New York, A Sudden Change of Heart takes the reader on an unforgettable journey where secrets, survival, love and redemption mesmerize the reader from the first page to the last. This is Barbara Taylor Bradford’s fifteenth novel and it is told with the emotion and feeling readers have come to expect from one of the world’s most beloved authors.