Black Beauty

A horse tells his own life, from a gentle field to London cab work and back toward kindness. Sewell wrote it so drivers and owners would stop using painful bits and would rest tired animals. Beauty’s voice is calm, which makes the cruel chapters clearer, not softer. The book is one of the first famous English novels told by an animal, and it is still a straight argument: how you treat a creature who cannot quit is a moral fact.

Start reading Study notes