The English author who wrote the children’s novel ‘Black Beauty’ was Anna Sewell. It was her only book written between 1871 and 1877, in the last years of her life, while she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel, immediately became a best-seller, with Sewell dying just 5 months after its publication.

With 50 million copies sold, ‘Black Beauty’ is one of the best-selling books of all time. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 58 on the British Broadcasting Company’s survey ‘The Big Read’, a year long survey- the biggest single test of public reading taste as of that date.

Anna was born in England and when she was 14, she fell while walking home from school in the rain and injured both her ankles.Through mistreatment of the injury, she became unable to walk or stand for any length of time for the rest of her life.

Disabled and unable to walk, she began learning about horses, spending many hours driving her father to and from the station where he commuted to work. Her dependence on horse-drawn transportation fostered her respect for horses.

Sewell said that she wrote the novel “to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses”.

Years later, the book was adapted into film and television broadcasts and in 2011 it was adapted for the stage by playwright James Stone.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org