text: Adult life In 1836, Sewell's father took a job in Brighton, in the hope that the climate there would help cure her. At about the same time, both Sewell and her mother left the Society of Friends to join the Church of England, though both remained active in evangelical circles. Her mother expressed her religious faith most noticeably by authoring a series of evangelical children's books, which Sewell helped to edit, though all the Sewells, and Mary Sewell's family, the Wrights, engaged in many other good works. Sewell assisted her mother, for example, to establish a working men's club, and worked with her on temperance and abolitionist campaigns.
  In 1845, the family moved to Lancing, and Sewell's health began to deteriorate. She travelled to Europe the following year to seek treatment. On her return, the family continued to relocate – to Abson near Wick in 1858 and to Bath in 1864.
  In 1866, Sewell's brother Philip's wife died, leaving him with seven young children to care for, and the following year the Sewells moved to Old Catton, a village outside the city of Norwich in Norfolk, to support him.
  Black Beauty
  While living in Old Catton, Sewell wrote the manuscript of Black Beauty – in the period between 1871 and 1877.  During this time her health was declining; she was often so weak that she was confined to her bed. Writing was a challenge. She dictated the text to her mother and from 1876 began to write on slips of paper which her mother then transcribed.