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Nicholas Evans 1996 on the coast of Saint-Malo: 15 million "Horse Whisperer" books sold
Photo: Poste 2 / Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images
The author of the hit novel »The Horse Whisperer«, Nicholas Evans, is dead. This was announced by the agency United Agents in London.
A statement said that the Briton died unexpectedly last Tuesday (August 9) as a result of a heart attack.
He was 72 years old.
His debut novel, The Horse Whisperer, published in 1995, has been translated into 40 languages and has been a #1 bestseller in 20 countries.
A total of 15 million copies of it went over the counter - even if the criticism etched, it was "a politically and ecologically correct story of salvation and a natural myth from the retort" (FAZ).
The rights to the novel about the cowboy and horse psychiatrist Tom Booker were worth three million dollars to the US publisher, Robert Redford also paid three million dollars for the film rights and took on the leading role in the film adaptation.
Kristin Scott Thomas starred as the horse owner, and Scarlett Johansson had her breakthrough in Hollywood in the role of her daughter.
Born in Worcestershire, England, Evans later expressed doubts as to whether the second half of the film "worked" but praised the acting and Redford's horsemanship.
Before becoming a writer, Nicholas Evans worked as a journalist, first for newspapers and since the 1980s mainly as a producer of documentaries.
Even though »The Horse Whisperer« was by far his greatest success – including the 1996 SPIEGEL annual bestseller – Evans was also successful with his four other novels;
"In the Wolf's Circle" and "Feuerspringer" also became bestsellers in Germany.
He and his wife Charlotte had to cope with a stroke of fate when they suffered severe mushroom poisoning in 2008.
Both then required a kidney transplant.
In the Scottish Highlands, Nicholas Evans had mistaken mushrooms of the poisonous humpback mushroom variety for porcini and prepared them with butter and parsley.
feb/dpa
