First finish - Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Hooray! Tonight I was able to finish my very first book from my reading list. And yes, it was Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. I was very touched by the novel which has been narrated by the horse itself - for that, Ms Sewell therefore wrote the first of its kind.

Sewell described very closely and very detailed a story from a horses' point of view which lived in Victorian England - from his first place, which he could very well remember with lovely meadows and friendly people to his next place at a gentlemen's house. From there he has been treated mostly well, sometimes not so well and handed down from place to place until he gone to be a cab horse in the city of London. From time to time I had a small tear in my eye, when for example the good hearted horse had leave due to some people's circumstances and taken to a place much worse than before - without meadows with its delicious grass, where he could roll himself in, or gallop around and without a good tempered groom or master to take care of him.

Anna Sewell took also a close look to the circumstances where horses where stalled in her time: She distinguished light and airy stables, and stands, where horse could barely move, nor let alone, turning around. Also mistreatment / ill-usage was a big issue in her book: She stressed passages where horses where overloaded / whipped / asked too much of in any kind and pulled the guilty ones to the summons or let them punished by their masters. She took over the fictive justice for the creatures, and gave the reader therefore her moral idea of how to treat an animal.

I am quite sorry, that I have finished it already, as it was such an enjoyable book - as it would be for any animal / and / or horse lover, teenager fond of animals or anybody in need of a quick read. If someone is interested I wrote some more about Black Beauty over at Happyblue book club.

Have a great weekend & happy reading,

love

Svenja