The Women in his Life

Maximilian West: filthy rich, corporate raider and a man of almost mythical power, glamour and charm. He appears to have everything. But in reality Maximilian is riven with internal conflict and torn apart by personal doubts.

Many women have loved Maxim – and many strive to reach his fortress heart: Anastasia, his first wife; Camilla, the beautiful English actress; Adriana, the competitive American career woman; and Blair, the mistress who schemes to become his wife. But only one woman holds the key that will unlock Maximilian’s secret – and set his soul free….

“The Women in His Life is one of my favourite books. It's 51 years of the history of the world from 1938 to 1989 and it begins in 1989 and it goes back to Germany in 1938. It's really about the destruction of a family by the Nazis and how this young man comes out of it. He's taken to England as a child. The title might be misleading. It sounds like a man's romantic liaisons. But in fact, the women in his life are the women behind the man: his mother, his grandmother, the woman that subsequently brings him up, his first wife, his daughter, various women who have helped to form the man or are important to the man. It's really a book that is about the holocaust, a man's survival and a man's triumph over probably the most evil regime in the world."

Barbara Taylor Bradford