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

Nicholas Evans, the British journalist turned author whose novel-turned-film The Horse Whisperer broke publishing and movie records, along with the hearts of readers who made the book a bestseller in 20 countries, died on Aug 9 at his home in London. He was 72.

The cause was a heart attack, said his longtime agent, Caradoc King.

In 1993, Evans, at 43, was broke and adrift. He had been working as a journalist and documentary filmmaker, and began casting about for an idea for a novel.

It was perhaps not the most winning formula for worldly success, as he noted in retrospect on his website: “Why would a debut novel from an unknown author have any more chance of getting off the ground than a movie?”

Yet he had found an intriguing subject: the mystical, manly art of horse whispering. His source was a farrier and Evans soon learnt that the vocation of calming horses had a long history stretching back centuries.

Evans sat down and wrote some 150 pages of what would become The Horse Whisperer, a soapy drama about a young girl and her horse who are hit by a truck, and what happens when her hard-driving magazine editor mother finds a horse whisperer in Montana to heal their trauma.

Evans showed his draft to King, who sent the partial manuscript to a number of publishers.

Suddenly, Evans was in the middle of a bidding maelstrom, juggling offers from Hollywood as well as from book publishers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Hollywood Pictures and Robert Redford’s film studio, Wildwood Pictures, won the bid, at the time the largest amount ever paid for the rights to a first novel (almost US$6 million (S$8.3 million) in today’s money).

Evans’ North American book advance, of US$3.15 million from Dell Publishing, set another record.

The book, which was published in 1995, was a global bestseller that was translated into 40 languages, though critics slammed it for its melodrama.

The movie, which came out in 1998, was more favorably reviewed and a modest box office success, thanks to Redford’s star power and firm hand as director.

Nicholas Evans was born July 26, 1950, in Worcestershire, in England’s West Midlands. He studied law at Oxford University, graduating with a First, the highest honors. He worked as a journalist for newspapers and television and produced a weekly current affairs show.

He followed The Horse Whisperer with three more novels, all bestsellers.

 

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES