A classic for all horse lovers. From his simple beginnings as a foal in a meadow through the ups and downs of his life including being a riding horse on a country estate and a cab horse on the busy streets of London, Black Beauty tells his own story.
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Black Beauty is one of the best-selling novels ever published and takes its title from the horse who narrates the story. Black Beauty begins his young life in the English countryside and eventually becomes a cab horse in London. After many moves and changes, he retires back in his beloved green pastures, where he reflects on the treatment he received, both good and bad, by his owners and handlers. The only book by English author Anna Sewell, Black Beauty was meant to call for humane and ethical treatment of animals, particularly horses, with which Sewell shared a special bond throughout her life. First published in 1877, Black Beauty has been adapted multiple times for film and television.
Anna Sewell was born on March 30th 1820, in Norfolk in England and was crippled while still very young. As such, she spent much time on horse-drawn carriages that allowed her some freedom of movement, and she developed as a result a great concern for the proper treatment of animals. Sewell's mother was a successful writer for children and Sewell spent time editing the texts and becoming acquainted with writing.
Sewell wrote only one book: the famous and enduringly popular Black Beauty (1877). She lived as an invalid for most of her existence, and Black Beauty - the tale of a mistreated horse with a happy ending - was written entirely in the last decade of her life when she was confined to her house. The story came from the horse's mouth, literally, as the horse spoke of extremes of joy and suffering. It was perhaps this humanising of the beast that made it such as success both as a book and as a catalyst for change in people's attitudes towards animals.
