Lauren Brooke

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Lauren Brooke is the author of two series of books targeted at pre-adolescent girls who are horse fanciers, the "Heartland" and "Chestnut Hill" series.

Brooke was born in England, but spent lots of her time in the United States, particularly in Virginia. She rode horses before she could walk and owned a naughty, Welsh Mountain pony by the name of Perky. She and her husband own a reterired Greyhound called Tarka. Lauren always wanted to write, when she moved to Leicestershire, England she started writing. Brooke enjoys walking Tarka and reading about complementary treatments and herbal treatments.

Brooke applies what she reads to her books. Her husband is a psychologist, Lauren chose to use his work on horses. She also likes to explore the complex emotions of humans, like grief, loss, and pain. "There aren't any plans to make a film of Heartland, but things may change in the future, who knows."

The "Heartland" of the Heartland series is a farm where abused and neglected horses are rehabilitated by girls. In the dedication of one of the books, "Coming Home," Brooke credits self-described "horse whisperer" Monty Roberts as the first person to "write about the join-up technique." This is not completely accurate, because Monty Roberts' own father, Marvin Roberts, had previously published a book that described the method, many decades before. Other horse trainer "gurus" had also written articles and books or published videos about round penning, which is synonymous with "join-up."

The Heartland series is good, clean entertainment for young girls but the books are not horse training manuals.