Black Beauty is, of course, the main protagonist, and narrator, of the children’s classic “Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse” by English author Anna Sewell. Having spent the last seven or eight years of her life writing the novel, Sewell sadly died on April 25, 1878, just five months after its publication. Nevertheless, Black Beauty remains in print 150 years later and, indeed, has sold over 50 million copies worldwide, thereby achieving one of her stated goals, which was “to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses.”
Although beloved of younger readers, the novel paints an unflinching portrait of the many misguided, and downright cruel, practices involved in the treatment of horses in Victorian England, devoid of sugar coating. It is essentially a morality tale, which teaches the value of kindness, sympathy and understanding, but nonetheless contains accurate, carefully-observed descriptions of equine behaviour and plenty of practical information on the right way to care for horses. Consequently, Black Book was enthusiatically endorsed by animal welfare organisations, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).
As the full title suggests, Black Beauty is the fictional autobiography of a handome, well-bred horse, who passes through the hands of several owners, some kind, some less so, but maintains a gentle, dignified voice as he strives to do his best, regardless of his circumstances. The story ends on a happy, if slightly bittersweet note when, after a lifetime of hardship and mistreatment finds a loving, permanent home which to spend the rest of his days. Black Beauty is reunited with Joe Green, whom he knew as a boy in his younger days, but is now coachman to his new owners. He says, “My troubles are all over, and I am at home.”