Black Beauty

What It's About

Narrated entirely in his own voice, Black Beauty recounts his life from a well-treated colt on an English farm through a series of very different owners, some kind and some careless or cruel. Along the way he witnesses the everyday hardships inflicted on working horses in Victorian England, from harsh bits and checkreins to overwork and neglect, while also encountering genuine compassion from those who treat him well.

Key Concepts

The novel is best known as an early and highly influential work of animal welfare literature, written specifically to encourage kinder treatment of horses. It takes particular aim at the checkrein (or bearing rein), a device that forced a horse's head into an unnatural, painful position for the sake of fashion, and more broadly critiques cruelty, ignorance, and the treatment of animals as disposable tools. Through Black Beauty's changing owners, the story also offers a cross-section of Victorian society, from wealthy estates to city cab work.

About the Author

Anna Sewell was an English novelist born in 1820 into a Quaker family in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. An ankle injury at fourteen left her with lasting mobility problems, and horse-drawn transport became essential to her daily life, fostering a deep sympathy for horses. In poor health and largely confined to her home in her later years, she wrote Black Beauty, her only novel, between 1871 and 1877. She died just five months after its publication.