Christine Pullein-Thompson

Christine Pullein-Thompson helped define the modern pony story through a long career as a children’s author and horsewoman. She grew up with horses in Oxfordshire and began writing alongside her twin Diana and older sister Josephine, both prolific authors in the same field. The Pullein-Thompson Treasury of Horse and Pony Stories gathers work by all three sisters, with illustrations by Eric Rowe, and was first issued by Award in 1995. Christine wrote more than one hundred books, ranging from riding-school adventures and rescue stories to the Phantom Horse and Black Pony Inn sequences. She also published under the name Christine Keir and wrote fiction beyond equestrian subjects. Her stories generally use a rider’s viewpoint and practical knowledge of horses, reflecting experience at family stables and riding schools. The Pullein-Thompson Treasury of Horse and Pony Stories captures the collaborative family tradition that made the sisters enduring names in British children’s publishing.