She had never enjoyed any affection from her thoughtless, carefree young mother, and became a disagreeable child even before the untimely death of her parents.īefore Mary came to Misselthwaite Manor, she had had none of the amusements of a healthy childhood.ĭiscovering the secret garden and meeting Dickon

She was a thin, sallow child, with thin light hair and a sour expression. But because her life ended tragically early, it was barred, and the flowers were left untended and forsaken.Īfter years had passed, a little girl named Mary Lennox, whose parents had died in India from cholera, cat to Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire, England, the place were the secret garden stood.Īrchibald Craven, the owner of the manor, was Mary’s uncle. A long time before the book’s story began, the lady of the manor - a wife and mother - bent above its borders and tended its flowers.

The titled garden was secret because the door to it had been locked and the key buried - along with its secrets. It’s a portrayal of the joyous laughter of childhood, the scents and sounds of fragrant growing things, and the bloom of roses, and the magic that heals and comforts and makes the weak and sick strong. Readers of all the many charming books that Frances Hodgson Burnett has written to delight the world and make it better will find The Secret Garden full of sweet and unexpected pleasures. An original 1911 review of The Secret Gardenįrom the original review of The Secret Garden in The Times Dispatch, Richmond, VA, October 29, 1911: See also: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden has remained a timeless classic for its themes of friendship and the power of nature to heal the body and spirit. Mary befriends Dickon, one of the servant’s brother, a free spirit who was able to communicate with animals, and Colin, her uncle’s son, a neglected invalid.

The tale follows the spoiled and sulky young girl as she slowly sheds her sour demeanor after discovering a secret, locked garden on the grounds of her uncle’s manor. The story follows the journey of Mary Lennox, a sickly and unloved ten-year-old girl born to wealthy British parents in India.Īfter a cholera epidemic kills her parents, Mary is sent to England to live with her Uncle Archibald in an isolated, mysterious house. The Secret Garden was published in 1911 after an original version was first serialized in The American Magazine in 1910.

Quite successful professionally, she had a difficult, sometimes tragic life. Though Frances Hodgson Burnett(1849 – 1924) wrote more than forty novels, The Secret Garden (1911) remains one of her most enduring works, along with A Little Princess (1905).īurnett was a poet and playwright in addition to her prolific output of novels and short stories for adults and children.

The secret garden 1911