Diana Pullein-Thompson, who has died aged 90, was the author of 30 pony books – ripping yarns, full of adventure, in which plucky young heroines overcome daunting challenges and turn feeble nags into champions. When asked why so many girls are passionate about horses, Diana replied, “They smell simply lovely!” But another strong reason would be the cavalcade of books that Diana, her twin, Christine, and their slightly older sister, Josephine, produced over more than half a century.
The inspiration for the stories came from Diana’s childhood and youth, as recounted entertainingly in Fair Girls and Grey Horses (1996), the joint autobiography that the three Pullein-Thompson sisters wrote. Though Diana was born in Wimbledon, south-west London, the family soon moved to a large, draughty house, called the Grove, in the village of Peppard in south Oxfordshire. There were stables attached and the girls and their older brother Denis grew up surrounded by dogs, chickens and other animals.
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