Writing Black Beauty: Anna Sewell, the Creation of a Novel, and the Story of Animal Rights

by Celia Brayfield

The story of a remarkable woman who wrote a novel that not only became a classic, but also changed the way human society views and treats animals.

Born in 1829 to a young Quaker couple, Anna Sewell grew up in poverty in London. She was fourteen when she fell and injured her ankle, which left her permanently disabled. Rejecting the life of a Victorian invalid, she developed an extraordinary empathy with horses, learning to ride side-saddle and to drive a small carriage. Rebellious and independent-minded, Anna suffered periods of severe depression as a young woman. She left the Quaker movement, but remained close friends with the women writers and abolitionists who had been empowered by its liberal principles. It was not until she became terminally ill, aged 51, that she found the courage to write her own book.

Tragically, she died just five months after the book was published in 1877. Black Beauty is now recognised as the first anthropomorphic novel, and it had an extraordinary emotional impact on readers of all ages. After modest success in Britain, it was taken up by a charismatic American, George Thorndike Angell, a campaigner against animal cruelty who made it one of the bestselling novels of all time. Using newly discovered archive material, Celia Brayfield shows Anna Sewell developing the extraordinary resilience to overcome her disability, rouse the conscience of Victorian Britain and make her mark upon the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Biography

256 pages, Hardcover

Published October 3, 2023

About the author

Celia Brayfield has written four non-fiction books and nine novels of which Mister Fabulous and Friends is currently in development for television. Her novel Heartswap was optioned by Paramount and Harvest for Chrysalis Films. Celia is currently working on a series of historical novels. She also teaches Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and Brunel University.

After attending St Paul's Girls' School in London, Celia went to Grenoble University in France to study French Language and Literature, before moving into journalism at The Times. She has one daughter and lives in Oxfordshire.

Reviews

[Eric Copeland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one I chose for my book group to read, and I suspect several of them did not like it, and probably more than a few of them didn't finish it. But I could be wrong.

I did finish it -- that's something I try to hold myself to. If I pick the book, even if NO ONE ELSE finishes it, I feel like I should finish what I've asked other people to read. But overall, this one was a dud for me.

I can't say I didn't learn anything, because there's a lot of information to absorb here. In fact, a good three-quarters of the book reads like a history lecture regarding the conditions faced by both people and animals in 19th-century England. Anna Sewell and her family are mentioned in this first huge chunk of book, but they're definitely not the focus of the text. And when I say it's written like a history lecture, I'm not talking about that exciting, "history is alive" kind of lecture that makes you wish you were minoring in history, if not seeking a major outright. No, this kind of lecture is the dry, dusty one that is full of knowledge, but lacks a narrative thread that keeps it vital and enthralling.

Now, about three-fourths of the way through, the author does narrow her focus down to the Sewell family and Anna, in particular, as she finished "Black Beauty" and it was marketed to an ever-increasing audience responding to efforts to improving the lot of animals in the 19th century. And interestingly, when the story shifted to that kind of narrative, the pace picked up and overall everything coalesced into something far more interesting.

In fact, I think this book was misleading in its title. Cela Brayfield clearly knows her stuff, but it was almost like for much of the book she forgot what the big-letters title on the cover was. It would have been better if the subtitle and title were reversed... say, call it "The Story of Animal Rights, with a Little Bit about Anna Sewell, her Family, and the Writing of Black Beauty Thrown In at the End." But if it were called that, I probably would have never picked it up.

[Ashley N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sort of 3.5, but rounded up.

This was a fascinating look into not only Anna Sewell's life, but also life in 1800's England. Brayfield spends a lot of time fleshing out Sewell's family and Quaker life by explaining other factors such as industrialization and general animal cruelty. It is also interesting to learn which novels were popular at the time and their potential influence on the Sewell family. If you are a Jane Austen fan, or even a fan of books like Jane Eyre, this little memoir will certainly be at home and paint life in England more realistically.

The main fault is that there were many repetitious passages, and highlighting the American humane societies in the middle of the book felt disjointed. While the book is laid out in a more chronological order, it would have felt better placed after the book was published and Sewell's death.

I'm just happy to learn more about Black Beauty's influence on the world.

[Shomeret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was more interested in the animal rights aspect than Anna Sewell's biography. If the novel wasn't so important in coalescing interest in animal rights, this book wouldn't have come to my notice in an Edelweiss listing. I'd like to thank the publisher for making it available to me through Edelweiss.

I was also interested in the Quaker aspect and the conflicted relationship of Anna Sewell and her mother Mary to Quakerism.

I did read Black Beauty as a child, but it wasn't a favorite possibly because animal abuse played such a strong role in the book and I was a very sensitive child. This wasn't the only classic that frightened me, but I do remember that I never wanted to re-read it.

[Angela Holland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked reading about Anne's life and her mother's writing career and why Anne wrote Black Beauty. There were parts of the book that moved a little slow.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t finish the book, it didn’t catch my fancy and I couldn’t focus.