Charlotte Popescu is the daughter of Christine Pullein-Thompson, famous author of pony books, along with her sisters Diana and Josephine Pullein-Thompson. The three Pullein-Thompsons were daughters of Joanna Cannan, also a writer, who invented the genre of pony stories with A Pony for Jean.

Charlotte had an idyllic country childhood in Oxfordshire with ponies and bantams. Her father kept bees and there was an orchard and a large vegetable garden. She read Classics at University and went on to work in the PR departments of a couple of large London publishers. She married, had three boys and now lives in Wiltshire.

Charlotte started her publishing business, Cavalier, by publishing the Pullein-Thompson pony stories. She also published a pony story by Joanna Cannan called Hamish. She then branched out and published The Tears of War about her great aunt who was a First World War poet — a book which was turned into a Radio 4 drama starring James Purefoy as Bevil Quiller-Couch.

She then turned to writing a range of ‘good life’ type books, based on her past experiences and her current life. She lives the lifestyle that she writes about: she has kept hens in her garden for the last 30 years as family pets and has an ever increasing flock. She also grows vegetables and fruit and is an experienced gatherer of wild food, aiming to be as self-sufficient as possible. She has written The Apple Cookbook and a series of fruity cookbooks. Her book Puddings – One for Every Day of the Year evolved after years of cooking puddings for a husband and three hungry boys.

Building on the success of her first chicken-related book, Hens in the Garden, Eggs in the Kitchen (now sold over 20,000 copies), Charlotte wrote Best Hens for You in which she explores which breeds will be most suitable for a family garden, with stories to illustrate chickens and their characters. She then wrote Chicken Runs and Vegetable Plots, about how to combine growing veg and keeping chickens in the garden. Her latest title, Chickopedia, contains everything you could possibly want to discover about hens and cockerels.

Christine Pullein-Thompson wrote over a hundred books during her lifetime, which have been translated into twelve languages. She was born on 1st October 1925 in Wimbledon. Her mother was Joanna Cannan, well known writer of her time, and her father was Captain HJ Pullein-Thompson. She was one of four — her brother is the playwright Denis Cannan, Josephine her elder sister and Diana her twin.

Christine grew up in Peppard, near Henley on Thames in Oxfordshire. Surrounded by animals, she started riding at seven and was educated at a variety of schools including Wychwood in Oxford until the age of 14 and then at home. While still in their teens, she and her sisters started writing and set up their own riding establishment. The Grove Riding School became a limited company with two schools and 42 horses. Christine and her sisters hunted with the Woodland Foxhounds and competed in jumping events.

She and her sisters wrote their first book together, It Began with Picotee, published in 1946. In 1948 Christine published her next book We Rode to the Sea and continued to write children’s books for the next 50 years. In 1952 Christine spent a year working as a professional rider in Virginia, USA.

In 1954 Christine married Julian Popescu, BBC Radio Monitor and author. They had four children: Philip, Charlotte, Mark and Lucy. Still living in Oxfordshire, Christine helped to launch two branches of Riding and Driving for the Disabled. She kept horses, dogs, cats and bantams and, while bringing up her children who were all members of the Pony Club, she continued to write, producing at least one book a year. In the seventies Christine and Julian moved to Suffolk where they lived in a moated parsonage. Here she set up a Bridleways Group and was Chairman of the Mellis Parish Council.

Perhaps best known for her pony books such as Phantom Horse and I Rode a Winner, Christine also wrote the highly successful Jessie series about a dog and many other books for younger readers. Her books have brought pleasure to millions, enchanting generations of horsey girls. In the nineties Christine joined with her sisters to write their autobiography, Fair Girls and Grey Horses – Memories of a Country Childhood, published in 1996. They also featured in the National Portrait Gallery’s 2002 exhibition of children’s writers, Beatrix Potter to Harry Potter.

“The Pullein-Thompson literary canon is awe-inspiring. Many of their books have been in print for nearly 40 years enjoying success in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Poland. The World’s love affair with the English countryside has brought combined worldwide sales of eleven million books… the language is straightforward, the plots exciting, the dialogue reads like real children’s voices. And in some unspoken way that children clearly recognise, the books are authentic.”

Christine Popescu, née Pullein-Thompson, died on 2nd December 2005. Her husband died in February 2008. They are survived by their four children Philip, Charlotte, Mark and Lucy.

“Knowledgeable, warm and genuinely inspiring. Our members are still talking about it.”

— WI Group, Berkshire

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