Background
All three of the Pullein-Thompson sisters have written at least one book under a different name; Josephine wrote one under the pseudonym of Josephine Mann, Diana wrote three books under her married name of Diana Farr and Christine wrote two books under the name of Christine Keir. Further details of the titles are given in the relevant section.
Their mother, Joanna Cannan (1898–1961), sister of the poet May Cannan, wrote similar equestrian stories, but is better known for detective mysteries. Their father was Captain Harold J "Cappy" Pullein-Thompson, who was badly injured during the First World War. Consequently he made his money by selling refrigerators, and did not publish any works. They also had a brother, Denis Cannan, who was an author as well, primarily a playwright, though he had not published as many works as his sisters.
The sisters are also related to the British novelist and dramatist Gilbert Cannan and the academic Charles Cannan. Joanna Cannan and May Cannan were daughters of Charles Cannan, making Gilbert Cannan their cousin. Diana later wrote an autobiography of Cannan's life. Their father was the brother of Emily Muriel Pullein Thompson, who was the mother of the composer John Gardner who is therefore also their cousin.
Christine had four children, two sons and two daughters, as a result of her marriage to Julian Popescu in 1954. One of her daughters Charlotte Popescu is an author of children's pony books, which are not as widely known as her mother's or her aunts'. Christine's other children were Phillip, Mark and Lucy. In addition she had eight grandchildren, Oliver, Daniel, Anna, Benjamin, Thomas and Hamish, Edwina and Maxwell. Diana married art historian Dennis Farr, and had two children, a son and a daughter. The National Portrait Gallery in London contains portraits of Diana and her two children.
The sisters' books are strongly oriented towards ponies, and for over 60 years they have been much loved by young girls with a strong enthusiasm for horses and ponies. Diana has often written books aimed at a slightly older audience, including some set in London. Christine was the most prolific and also wrote a number of stories which are not specifically concerned with horses or ponies; these are mostly aimed at younger children. Apart from the books listed below, all three sisters have also edited and contributed to various anthologies of horse and pony stories.
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