Readings Classics: Black Beauty

Description

Discover the classic story of a beautiful horse with an unbreakable spirit.

Anna Sewell’s story of the horse, Black Beauty, and his experiences in life with various owners – some kind, some cruel.

One of the best loved animal stories ever written, the dramatic and heartwarming Black Beauty is told by the magnificent horse itself, from idyllic days on a country squire’s estate to a harsh fate as a London cab horse. No one can ever forget the gallant Black Beauty, a horse with a white star on its forehead and a heart of unyielding courage.

Horses, hope, and heartbreak.

Come with Beauty on the journey of a lifetime. There’s hardship and friendship, kindness and cruelty, but above all else, love.

Filled with vivid anecdotes about animal intelligence, the novel derives a special magic from the author’s love for all creatures, apparent on every page. But the book’s lasting impact comes from its moving depiction of a human society struggling to find the goodness within itself, and its pleas for kindness to all creatures, great and small–a message so powerful that this favorite classic began a crusade for animal rights that continues today.

Author Biography

Anna Sewell was born in 1820 and lived with her family in Norfolk and then in a village on the outskirts of London. At the age of fourteen Anna injured her ankles in a fall, and was severely disabled for the rest of her life. She had to travel everywhere in horse-drawn carriages, and so Anna was always concerned with the treatment of the animals she so relied upon. She wrote Black Beauty in order to convince a wide audience of the importance of the humane treatment of animals. Owing to her failing health the story took nearly seven years to complete but was eventually published in 1877. Sadly, Anna never got to know of the huge success of Black Beauty, her only book, as she died in 1878, five months after the book’s publication.