Barbara Taylor Bradford - Master of His Fate - The gripping new Victorian epic from the author of A Woman of Substance

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

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www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2018

Copyright © Barbara Taylor Bradford 2018

Cover design by Claire Ward © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2018

Jacket photograph © Lee Avison/Trevillion Images

Barbara Taylor Bradford asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008242404

Ebook Edition © November 2018 ISBN: 9780008242428

Version: 2018-10-30

This book is for my husband Bob,

my hero, who has always given me the freedom and space to write

despite whatever else has been happening.

With my love and gratitude always.

Contents

COVER

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

DEDICATION

CHARACTERS

PART ONE:

THE BARROW BOY London 1884

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

PART TWO: NEW HORIZONS London/Kent 1887

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

PART THREE: UNIQUE RELATIONSHIPS Kingston Upon Hull/London 1888

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

PART FOUR: THE ROAD TO DESTINY Hull/London 1888

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

CHAPTER FORTY

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

PART FIVE: THE WAY IT IS London/Paris 1888–9

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

CHAPTER FIFTY

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

KEEP READING …

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BOOKS BY BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

THE FALCONERS

Philip Henry Rosewood Falconer, founder of the dynasty; a head butler.

Esther Marie Falconer, his wife and co-founder of the dynasty; a head housekeeper.

Their sons

Matthew, his eldest son and heir; a stall owner at the Malvern Market.

George, a noted journalist on The Chronicle daily newspaper.

Harry, a chef and owner of a café, the Rendezvous.

Their grandchildren (Matthew’s offspring)

James Lionel, an ambitious young businessman on the rise.

Rosalind, known as Rossi, a seamstress.

Edward Albert, assistant to his father on the stalls.

Their daughter-in-law

Maude Falconer, Matthew’s wife and mother of his children; a seamstress.

THE VENABLES

Clarence Venables, Esther Falconer’s brother-in-law, great-uncle of James Falconer. Owner of a shipping company in Hull.

Marina Venables, Clarence’s wife and younger sister of Esther Falconer. Great-aunt of James Falconer. A noted artist.

Their children

William, eldest son and heir, working at the Hull shipping company.

Albert, second son, working at the Hull shipping company.

Their daughter-in-law

Anne Venables, Albert’s wife.

THE MALVERNS

Henry Ashton Malvern, owner of the Malvern Company, a big business enterprise and property company.

Alexis Malvern, his only child and heir; a partner in the business.

Joshua Malvern, Henry’s brother and business partner in London.

Percy Malvern, his cousin who runs the wine business in Le Havre.

THE TREVALIANS

Sebastian Trevalian, head of the Trevalian private bank.

His daughters

Claudia, his eldest daughter and heir.

Lavinia, a debutante.

Marietta, a debutante.

His sister

Dorothea Trevalian Rayburn, an art collector and member of the bank’s board.

His son-in-law

Cornelius Glendenning, Claudia’s husband, a banker.

THE CARPENTERS

Lord Reginald Carpenter, publishing tycoon and proprietor of The Chronicle .

Lady Jane Cadwalander Carpenter, his wife.

Their daughters

Jasmine, a debutante.

Lilah, a debutante.

James Lionel Falconer, commonly called Jimmy by everyone except his grandmother, was out of breath. He came to a sudden stop in the middle of the road going towards Camden Lock. The wheelbarrow he was pushing was heavy and grew heavier by the minute, at least so it seemed to him. He rested for a few seconds, leaning against the barrow, trying to catch his breath.

It was Thursday 12 June 1884, and last month, in late May, he had celebrated his fourteenth birthday. He felt very grown up now. After all, he had been working with his father at their stalls in Henry Malvern’s covered market in London’s Camden Town since he was eight. That was part-time until he was ten, when he began to go there every day. He loved the haggling, the negotiating, the wheeling and dealing about prices, just as much as his father did.

His father called him ‘my clever lad’, which pleased Jimmy. He admired his father, endeavoured to emulate him. Matthew Falconer, who was thirty-seven, dressed neatly to go to work, and so did Jimmy. His father never forgot to ask his regulars how members of their families were, and neither did Jimmy. It had been inculcated in him.

Even his grandmother, Esther Falconer, had noticed, since his early childhood, how he copied his father in most things. It frequently brought a smile to her face, and sometimes she even gave him a threepenny bit for being a good boy. She told him to save it for a rainy day. He did. He paid great attention to her.

Straightening, blowing out air, Jimmy picked up the two handles and started pushing the barrow once more. He walked at an even pace, knowing that this main road got a bit higher after it branched off on both sides.

He stayed on the main road, puffing a bit harder, perspiring; it was a warm day. He was almost at the market when he experienced a sharp, stabbing pain in his chest, and came to an abrupt stop, startled by the intensity of the pain.