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Forgotten Author of the Week - Christine, Diana, and Josephine Pullein-Thompson


After asking what some of my readers' favorite authors were, I decided to give myself an education by featuring these authors in the coming weeks. The first one, Christine, Diana and Josephine Pullein-Thompson missed my radar as a kid for one simple reason. I did not read books about horses, dogs, cats, badgers, or anything else furry. However, I found the story of Christine, Diana, and Josephine Pullein-Thompson to be fascinating.

Christine, Diana and Josephine were sisters born one year apart in 1924-25. Diana and Christine were twins. The wrote several horse and pony books, mostly fictional, all geared for middle-grade girls. Their first books were published when the girls were in their early twenties. All 3 sisters have written at least 1 book under a different name. Josephine wrote under the pseudonym of
Josephine Mann, in which she published a ghost story, Place With
Two Faces. Diana wrote 3 books under her married name of Diana Farr. Christine wrote 2 books under the name of Christine Keir.
Their mother Joanna Cannan was the sister of the poet May Cannan, who wrote similiar equestrian stories but is better known for mysteries and her poetry. Their brother Denis Cannan managed to write books as well, but not as many works as his sisters. He did managed to make a living being a playwright. Their father, after being injured in World War II, sold refrigerators.

As if this literary family wasn't enough, Christine later had four children, two sons and two daughters. One her daughters Charlotte Popescu is an author in her own right, publishing children's pony books just like her mother. Diana also had two children, but neither became writers. Of the three sisters, Christine was the most published and well-known.

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