The Secret Garden

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

E L Konigsburg (Introduction)

With a new movie coming in 2020, it’s time to rediscover Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic story of a little girl, a mysterious hidden garden, and the healing power of nature.

When orphaned Mary Lennox comes to live at her uncle’s great house on the Yorkshire Moors, she finds it full of secrets. The mansion has nearly one hundred rooms, and her uncle keeps himself locked up. And at night, she hears the sound of crying down one of the long corridors.

The gardens surrounding the large property are Mary’s only escape. Then, Mary discovers a secret garden, surrounded by walls and locked with a missing key. With the help of two unexpected companions, Mary discovers a way in—and becomes determined to bring the garden back to life.

• ISBN10: 0689831412
• ISBN13: 9780689831416
• Publish Date: 8 January 1999 (first published 1 January 1911)
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Aladdin
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

This was a re-read for me, as I read this for school when I was younger.
See reviews first on my blog

The Secret Garden ended up being a bit of a surprise for me, after the first quarter of the book I wasn't really sure if I was going to like it or not. Thankfully the rest of the book I really enjoyed and grew to love the characters.
As Mary got to go out and explore and be a little kid we see her start to grow and change as a person. Then we get to see her help Colin and help him get a chance at a life he had never had before due to always being kept hidden away. The friendship these two make was so nice to see and I loved how some of the staff was so supportive of them going out and about and enjoying the world.

Overall this ended up being a fun classic that I enjoyed. The characters were so fun, and I loved the way they talked about the Garden and made it there own place after it having been abandoned for so long.

[MurderByDeath]

I cannot possibly say anything glowing and wonderful about this book that hasn't already been said a thousand times before so I'll just say I loved it.  It's beautiful.

And what does it say about me and the jaded age I've reached when I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in this story:  a fight amongst the three of them, a pre-adolescent love triangle, a manufactured crisis...something.  The lack of all of these things is, I think, what I loved most of all.

 

[PopSugar 2015 Challenge: A Book more than 100 years old.]

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

“Mistress Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And marigolds all in a row.”

I admit that when it comes to children’s literature, I’ve been a little slack. So much for the literary explorer, this blog only has two books review that would fit the genre. One being the wonderful Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which I read a long time ago and absolutely loved, the second was The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe. I’ve only read two children’s books for this blog. I was happy to see that the Literary Exploration Book Club on Goodreads (it’s a great group, join it if you want to try different genres) decided that it was about time we did a children’s book. There were some great nominations for this poll, including Charlotte’s Web, Pinocchio, Wonder but it all came down to a battle between The Wind in the Willows and The Secret Garden. I have very vague memories of The Secret Garden; I know it had adventure, a secret garden and it was centred on a young girl.

What I got when I started reading this novel was something truly amazing. It has a nice blend of the Gothic and Romantic ideology and, you know me, that is the type of novel that I crave. The story follows a young girl who is sent to live with her mysterious uncle when her parents died from cholera. It was established from the very first line that “everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen”. We get a sense from that line that no one likes her and add the fact that she grow up in India with servants we know she was an over privileged brat of a child. This is all from the first chapter, so I knew from the start that I was reading a children’s novel that was going to be very different to the ones of its time. The whole idea of the Victorian girl, the girl that is always well behaved and helpful in the kitchen and is spending her time getting educated and prepared for marriage was not going to play any part in The Secret Garden, in fact it was more likely to be similar to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island in the sense that we have a child out for adventure.

Now, I’ve stated that there are elements of the Gothic and the Romantic in this novel so let me just expand on that real briefly. Mary was a sickly child when she came to Misselthwaite manor; in fact she was described in the first paragraph to have “a little thin face and a little thin body, thin light hair and a sour expression. Her hair was yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another.” Then when you get to chapter 11 you hear her say “’I’m growing fatter,’ said Mary, ‘and I’m growing stronger. I used always to be tired. When I dig I’m not tired at all. I like to smell the earth when it’s turned up.’” All this has been a result of communing with nature, the very essence of the Romantic Movement.

Now when it comes to the Gothic you obviously have the big manor on the moors with all the secrets housed within it. You can see the typical gothic tropes through out The Secret Garden, Mary often hearing mysterious cries in the house and has been told it is just the wind. The whole house and even the garden has secrets and it is this that makes up the architecture for the gothic within this novel. However you can take it one step further, I viewed Misselthwaite manor as a symbol of Mary’s psyche. All those locked rooms hiding the secrets are representative of the psychological damage Mary has been through and slowly has to deal with.

There are so many little elements you can study within this novel. I kept looking at the similarities between characters and tried to understand what would Frances Hodgson Burnett wanted to say. Look at the similarities between Mary and the robin; both orphans, both find refuge in the secret gardens and seeking friendship. Then you can compare the similarities between Mary and Colin; both ten years old, sickly, neglected and over privileged, spoiled little children. I spent a lot of time wondering the importance behind the parallel lives but in the end have just decided that Burnett did this to emphasise the themes throughout this classic children’s novel.

The major theme that I believe comes through The Secret Garden is the importance between friendship and companionship (with Mary and Colin or even the robin). The Christian Scientist idea of disease not being a product of the body but of negative thinking seems to come to mind when I think about this theme. Frances Hodgson Burnett had a keen interest in the Christian Science movement (as well as Spiritualism and Theosophy in general) which developed before she began writing The Secret Garden.

You also have the theme that suggests an importance of being outdoors; the notion of getting out of the house and exercising being healthy for young children runs throughout the novel. This could also been accredited to a Christian Scientist ideology or more a product from the changing times where fresh air and exercise for children have been promoted. There is the Romantic Movement that suggests the importance of communing with nature, which was a backlash against an emphasis on the enlightenment and scientific. The movement wanted to highlight the glory, beauty and power of the natural world. Both Christian Scientists and The Romantics believe the natural world to be a source of healthy thinking, emotions and ideas.

In the end, this book is great and a joy to read, I was wondering how so many people enjoyed the book when I feel like too many people get put off by unlikeable characters. Both Mary and Colin where the most disagreeable children (not entirely true but close) and I’m perplexed, I feel like people only hate a book with unlikeable characters when it suits them and looking for an excuse. Anyway I’m not going to go into that. Analysing The Secret Garden closely, I did wonder if this novel came off too preachy but I enjoyed it none the less. It has inspired me to read some more children’s classics but I’m not sure which one I’ll read next.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/05/30/the-secret-garden-by-frances-hodgson-burnett/

[boghunden]

This is a nice novel about the magic of life. It's a story driven by the beautiful writing, and the magic of words. It's not a story driven by the storyline and/or action.

The story is rather boring and really slow. Things, I normally wouldn't like. None the less, I really liked it. I was curious to see what was going on with Mary. I thought I was about to get a quick read and enjoyment, but now that I've read it, I know why it wasn't that fast paced. Instead, it was beautiful.

”Where you tend a rose my lad, a thistle cannot grow.”

This book is filled with the beauty of words from the first few pages. It's something I haven't really been that much into before. I don't really care about the writing style. As long as I enjoy the story, everything's good. After reading this book though, I think I get what the writing is about. Now I've seen the beauty of it. And this writing is old, the book was written in 1911, so of course it takes some getting used to, but once I did, I really enjoyed reading this gem.

It's not the perfect book. And I'm not sure if this would be the right choice if you're looking for a book to read aloud to your kids. Still, this is one of the most beautiful novels I've ever read.

[chymerra]

https://readwithme2018.com/2018/08/30/throwback-thursday-august-30th-2018/

[wcs53]

I have never read this book before, but have heard so many good things about it. So I put it on my list of 50 classics to read by the end of 2017. This is the second one I've read on the list and I have to say I enjoyed it more than the last one I read.

It's an enjoyable story about how our attitude, along with the way we treat ourselves and those around us can make a big difference to our lives. There are many things to think about and to apply to our own lives contained in this book which, although is considered a children's classic, can be enjoyed by all ages.

We have a movie version of this in our house, but I have never watched it. I'm not sure that I want to now, as it may well spoil the book for me.

[celinenyx]

Oh, how I wish I could have read The Secret Garden when I was eight. It would have been right up there with my other favourite books.

Mary Lennox is a sullen, spoiled child that has absolutely no people skills. After she is sent to live with her absent uncle in Yorkshire she discovers a secret garden that has been locked up for years. Here she finds friends and turns from an ugly and horrible girl into someone lovable.

The Secret Garden is one of the absolute most positive books I've ever read. It just makes you feel so good. Some pessimists might call it naive, but this is a children's book, and the book doesn't make any claims that cannot be held. For example, it never says that physical illnesses can be solved by being outside more. What it does say is that thinking you are sick will without doubt make you sick.

Deeper themes aside, I loved The Secret Garden. I suddenly felt the need to garden, to plant things, to see them grow, which is an urge I don't think I ever had. The Yorkshire setting and dialect were just perfect. I think Ms Hodgson Burnett has a great sense of what children are really like, and the way the children in the novel think completely resonates with my memories of early childhood.

The Secret Garden made me happy. I'm sure I will reread it again and again in years to come.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

The Secret Garden is a novel of Mary Mary quite contrary, whose parents die due to cholera and is sent off to live with an uncle. The house is old, dusty and filled with secrets. At first we all learn to hate the little brat.

Anywhose, a little bird tells Mary of a secret garden planted by her late aunt being "shut down" after her death. Of course Mary begins to revive it along with her disposition. Lonely Mary also acquires friends, a boy Dicken, brother of a maid at the manor and can "speak" to animals; Mary's second friend is Colin her invalid cousin, a supposed hunchback and even more obnoxious than Mary, but of course the garden fixes that too, along with his ailment. It was all very Heidiesque

I'm not sure what I was expecting upon downloading it to my Kindle, maybe a childlike Midsummer Night's Dream? Anyway, I should have know considering the title is the Secret Garden, but it was mostly about flowers and finding one's inner beauty. I have no green thumb and think "inner beauty" should be left to Oprah and The Hallmark Chanel. I did like the book, it just wasn't my taste (but hey it was free). I can understand why this is a childhood classic and I probably would have loved it but as an adult I got annoyed with touching definitions for each variation of flower Mary was planting. A small complaint I know, but there it is.

[inlibrisveritas]

I really enjoyed reading this book, I've always watched the movie so this was a real treat to actually take the time to read. It made me remember the wonders of being a child and exploring the little corner of the world we are presented with.