(1820-1878) Nobody knew much about the writer. The book Black Beauty came to the bookshops in 1877. It was the only book she wrote. She was 57 years old, and was often ill. An accident as a child had left her unable to walk without help. She never saw the great success of her book.In Anna Sewell's time there were no cars, no motor buses and no motor vans or trucks. There were railway trains between towns, but in town or in the country you walked, or used the horse. The horse carried you as a rider, or pulled you in a carriage or horse bus or horse tram (street car). So there were very many thousands of horses at work in Europe, America, and other parts of the world. Black Beauty describes some of the different people at a horse market .She wrote the book because she loved animals. She was brave to make her book the autobiography of a horse, with Black Beauty telling the story as I {me, my etc.). It is true that at the time readers were very interested in autobiographies. But an imaginary autobiography of a horse was quite a different thing.