Nicholas Evans, author of The Horse Whisperer, dies aged 72

Nicholas Evans, author of The Horse Whisperer (Sphere), has died of a heart attack aged 72

His long-standing agent Caradoc King at United Agents announced Evans passed away on 9th August. 

Charlie King, managing director of Little, Brown Book Group said: "Nicholas Evans was a masterful storyteller and one of the most successful, best-loved novelists of his generation. His era-defining bestseller The Horse Whisperer and his four subsequent novels, The Loop, The Smoke Jumper, The Divide and the Brave, have been enjoyed by millions of readers around the world. Little, Brown is extremely proud to be Nick’s publisher – he will be greatly missed, but his words will live on for years to come."

Evans was born and grew up in Worcestershire and studied law at Oxford University before working as a journalist on the Evening Chronicle in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

He then moved into television, producing films about US politics and the Middle East for a weekly current affairs programme called “Weekend World’’. In 1982 he started to produce arts documentaries about famous writers, painters and film-makers such as David Hockney and Patricia Highsmith, several of which won international awards.

For the next 10 years, Evans wrote and produced a number of films for television and the cinema. In 1993 he met a blacksmith in the south-west of England who told him about horse whisperers – people who have the gift of healing traumatised horses. Evans started work on what was to be his first novel. 

Since being published in 1995, according to United Agents The Horse Whisperer has sold 15 million copies across the world as well as being the number one bestseller in 20 countries and has been translated into 40 languages, his agent said. It was made into a movie, starring, produced and directed by Robert Redford. 

He leaves behind his wife Charlotte and four children, Finlay, Lauren, Max and Harry, with whom he lived in Devon.