Anna Sewell
Born in Norfolk, England, Anna Sewell (1820-1878) suffered an ankle injury as a small child. Unable to walk long distances without the aid of a crutch, Sewell used horse-drawn carriages to get around, and the interaction with the animals catalyzed her love for horses as well as her activism for their humane treatment. She began writing Black Beauty in 1871, though she was in ill health and mostly bedridden in the years it took to write. Sewell died five months after the novel's publication in...See more
Born in Norfolk, England, Anna Sewell (1820-1878) suffered an ankle injury as a small child. Unable to walk long distances without the aid of a crutch, Sewell used horse-drawn carriages to get around, and the interaction with the animals catalyzed her love for horses as well as her activism for their humane treatment. She began writing Black Beauty in 1871, though she was in ill health and mostly bedridden in the years it took to write. Sewell died five months after the novel's publication in late 1877. An instant success, Black Beauty remains one of the top ten bestselling children's novels of all time and serves as a timeless primer on animal welfare in modern society. See less
