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‘We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.’

When his beloved owners are forced to sell him, Black Beauty leaves his life as a young, carefree colt and embarks on a working life of misery, pulling cabs in London. As he passes through the hands of a number of different masters, he faces cruelty and hardship, as well as compassion and kindness, as he struggles to survive.

Through her poignant but heart-warming tale, Anna Sewell highlights the plight of the working animal. First published in 1877, this story of a horse whose spirit cannot be broken has become an enduring and popular children’s classic.