The Secret Garden: A Secret that Needs to be Shared

I decided to start this blog with a review of my absolute favourite book in the world, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

     A Brief Synopsis  

Mary Lennox is a miserable, ugly, spoiled girl living in India with parents who don't care about her and servants who are too terrified to discipline her. When she is orphaned due to an outbreak of cholera, she is sent to England to live in the home of her wealthy widower uncle at Misselthwaite Manor, a huge estate on the edge of the British moor. She is cared for by Martha, a Yorkshire girl who lives across the moor with her 11 siblings. Mary is intrigued by stories of Martha's family, especially her brother Dickon, who makes friends with the animals on the moor and knows nearly everything about nature. Mary was never interested in anything before, so this was "the dawning of a healthy sentiment" (Burnett 33).

There was very little to do around the manor, so Mary spent her time wandering the gardens surrounding the house. Martha had told her the story of a garden that had been locked away for a decade because it had belonged to Mrs. Craven, and this fascinated her (another new emotion). So Mary set out to find the garden. The way in which she finds the garden is what I love about this book. There isn't any magic in the traditional sense; there are no fairies or witches or genies, but you can't help but see magic in the story. A robin shows Mary where the key to the hidden garden is buried, and it is a gust of wind that reveals the door hidden behind the ivy. The descriptions of the incredible surroundings in this book are breathtaking. Mary steps into the garden and finds it to be "the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place anyone could imagine" and marvels at "how still it is!"(79). She is worried that nothing will every grow in there, but slowly gets to work, trying remove tangled grasses from tiny little buds.

There is so much more that happens after Mary's initial discovery. Dickon arrives to make a delivery and Mary realizes that if he can be trusted by the animals to keep the secrets of their nests and burrows, he can be trusted to hide the whereabouts of a certain hidden garden. Together they begin to revive the barren land.

One night, Mary hears screams and sobs ringing through the old manor. She discovers that she has a cousin named Colin hidden away in the house. He is a sickly, wretched boy who is just as spoiled and horrible as Mary was before the garden began to change her. Colin believes his father hates him and that's why he is always travaling. Despite his illness and rudeness, Mary befriends her cousin and tells him her secret. Colin is drawn to the garden as Mary was, and decides that, if Dickon would push him in his chair, he would like to see it. The magic of the garden transforms Colin. He becomes stronger and healthier and is able to walk and run and play. One day, as he's running out of the garden, he crashes into a man. It's Mr. Craven, shocked to see his boy running around, perfectly healed. The story ends with the servants staring in disbelief as "across the lawn came the Master of Misselthwaite and he looked as many of them had never seen him. And by his, side with his head up in the air and his eyes full of laughter walked as strongly and steadily as any boy in Yorkshire--Master Colin!" (279).

     My Thoughts

I love this book. I really, really love this book. The story is one of  growth and renewal through the most lovely medium possible: a british garden. I love nature, so it's natural (ha ha) that I would be intrigued be this story. I love how Burnett uses such incredible imagery in her descriptions. You can tell that she truly loves nature and the world around her. I cannot help but see the gardens as she describes them. And of course, the beautiful illustrations don't hurt. These pictures I've put up are by Inga Moore, and are the same illustrations in my copy. I love the soft colours and texture she uses. I'm a big fan of impressionism, and I think it is the perfect style to capture a magical secret garden.

Something curiously fun about Burnett's writing was her depiction of the Yorkshire accent. Many characters such as Martha and Dickon speak with a broad accent, and Burnett put a lot of effort into giving the reader a real sense of what the accent sounds like. For example, when she first arrives, the footman says to the housekeeper who brought Mary to the manor says "I see tha's got back...an' tha's browt th' young un' with thee" (21). Burnett's diction, while a bit hard to understand at first, allows the reader to hear the accent easily in their head. I found this interesting dialect helpful and fun.

There was something I didn't particularly enjoy about Burnett's story. The three children believe in the magic of the garden, but Colin is the deepest believer. He tries to have long times of meditation and chanting while the children sit in a circle in the garden. I thought it was a bit weird, and I feel it didn't match the ethereal, natural feel of the story so far. It was more deep and somber.

I love The Secret Garden. Whenever I read it, I'm filled with peace and a deep happiness. I can't help but love Mary as she grows from a horrible, miserable girl to a happy, beautiful child. Burnett has accomplished what every author aspires to: she created characters that I fell in love with and a place that I want to live in more than anywhere else. Every time I read this book, I'm walking alongside Mary as she steps into a magical, beautiful garden. There's no place I'd rather be.