Anna Sewell's novel is told in the first person by a horse. Black Beauty recounts his own life from a well-kept colt in the English countryside through a succession of owners, some kind and some careless, as he passes from carriage work to the cab ranks and the harder jobs that follow. Along the way he describes the other horses he works beside — Ginger, Merrylegs, Captain — and what becomes of them.
Sewell wrote it out of concern for how working horses were treated, and much of the book turns on the ordinary cruelties of harness and trade: the bearing rein, the overloaded cart, the driver who does not notice a stone in a hoof. It is plainly written and addressed to anyone old enough to follow a story, which is why it has stayed on children's shelves while remaining a book adults read with interest.
This English-language edition comes from M. D. Gunasena & Co., the Colombo publisher, and forms part of its Timeless Classics series of reissued standard titles for general and school readers.
- Author: Anna Sewell
- Publisher: M. D. Gunasena & Co. (Pvt) Ltd
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9789552132018
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