In a statement, United Agents said the “much-loved” author died after suffering a heart attack on Tuesday. “He lived a full and happy life, at his home on the banks of the River Dart in Devon,” it added. Evans’ 1995 novel The Horse Whisperer sold 15 million copies worldwide, becoming a number one bestseller in 20 countries. It has been translated into 40 languages and made into a film, starring, produced and directed by Robert Redford. The novelist, who was also an award-winning documentarian, went on to write four more bestselling novels: The Loop, The Smoke Jumper, The Divide and The Brave. Born in 1950 in Worcestershire, Evans studied law at Oxford University and was initially a journalist, working for the Evening Chronicle in Newcastle. Nicholas Evans in 2011. Photo: Sarah Lee/The Guardian He then moved to television, producing films on US and Middle East politics for the weekly current affairs program Weekend World. In 1982, he began producing art documentaries on David Hockney, Francis Bacon and Patricia Highsmith. The inspiration for his first novel came in 1993 when he met a blacksmith in south-west England who told him about horse whisperers – people who can supposedly heal injured horses by talking to them. In 2008, Evans and his wife, singer-songwriter Charlotte Gordon Cumming, were seriously injured after accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms during a trip to the Scottish Highlands. Both had to have a kidney transplant, Evans from his daughter Lauren. He was also diagnosed with malignant skin cancer while writing The Horse Whisperer in 1994. At the time, the publishers were locked in a bidding war for the rights to the unfinished book, which eventually earned Evans $3.15 million and another $3 million for the film rights. “The day after the operation, I was going around publishing houses trying to look polite and normal, and I was in a cold sweat, I was just dying, I was in so much pain,” Evans told the Guardian in 2011. “But I thought, if I tell anyone , he’ll think I’m going to die.” In the same interview he said: “I think I was incredibly lucky.” Evans leaves behind Charlotte and four children: Finley, Lauren, Max and Harry.
