The Secret Garden

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

[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.