Book Review — The Secret Garden
Set at the start of the twentieth century, this delightful novel of a little ten-year-old girl living in British India, Mary Lennox was about a self-absorbed, demanding spoilt little brat or as the book says by the time Mary was six years old, ‘she was a tyrannical and selfish little pig as ever lived’, who treated the native servants appallingly. Her parents had nothing to do with her, and for the most part ignored her. This would have been a terrible thing for Mary, knowing her parents didn’t want her. When her father and mother died of a cholera epidemic, she was sent to her uncle, Archibald Craven in England, to his residence, Misselthwaite Manor, in Yorkshire. Mary hardly saw her uncle, who was in any case away most of the time, in other countries. She was under the care of Mrs Medlock and her maid Martha Sowerby. First, she couldn’t have been lonelier.
Mary would soon find out that Archibald is a hunchback and his wife, Lilias had been dead for ten years ago. Mary first hated her new home, the people and the bleak moor where the manor sits. She was forbidden to go to most parts of the house. Initially she was rude and disagreeable as ever. Yet, slowly she makes friends with Martha. In her walks around the grounds of the estate, she comes across walled gardens, including one that was closed off, thanks to a bird, a little red robin who shows where the door is. She finds a key, that was half buried in upturned earth, opens the door and finds an abandoned garden. She would find it had been shut-up by Archibald Craven after the death of Lilias. Mary decides this would be her secret garden. Together with Martha’s brother twelve-year-old brother Dickon who is great with animals, lets him into the secret too. Slowly they bring this old garden back to life.
Mary, slowly but surely gained new friends. She started to become more considerate of others. She then finds out she has a cousin, Colin whose existence was kept from her. Colin was sick and bedridden. He was more selfish and self-centred than Mary. They were also the same age and had a similar upbringing. This is why, I think Mary, unlike the adult servants was not intimidated by Colin’s rage and tantrums. She stood up to him. She knew and understood him as well as herself.
While some people may find this part of the story disturbing, that a father could allow to be disconnected with his son, it also I think, accurately shows, that not having loving parents can really harm children. It would have been no less a hundred years ago as it is today. Mary and Colin needed love and friendship. As this book progresses, both young children start to live and show care for others. Dickon, I think being a couple of years older was also the perfect person to help nurture Mary and Colin. They start to love. This is what makes this story for me so enheartening. I really like this story all the more, reading it for the second time.
This book belongs to that period in a new century before the Great War and of course the war that followed that would change things forever. It speaks positively of the discoveries, especially in the nineteenth century. It is quaint, yet for some reason familiar. This was a time of new thoughts that as the novel put it ‘as powerful electric batteries’ as the book puts it. To allow bad thoughts, would ultimately lead to sickness. When Mary was disagreeable and mean, she remained yellow-skinned and sickly. As she matured, and gained friends and became happy, and her cousin their health improved. I love the fact Mary and Colin, who needed each other, as you read one became children whom you would like to meet. From a darkish book, it shows the delight of young people enjoying life. That life was a gift. This ‘Secret Garden’, shut up by Colin’s father, after his mother dies, has a life of its own. I was told by one person she found reading it as an adult, disturbing. It must terrible for Colin thinking his father didn’t care for him, and rarely saw. Yet one of the most unlikable, spoilt little girls, who you know would change to become one of the most one of the most agreeable girls, who positively affects everyone around her. You need love. You need friends. For me, this is a magical book. I hope this story continues to be loved for many generations to come.
Author: Francis Hodgson Burnett
Minimum Age: 8+
Type of Book: Children’s Fiction
Book Length: Folio edition 273
Note: This book review is from Carl Strehlow, a valued member of Coffin Nation. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tweet to Patrick HERE
Follow Patrick on Facebook HERE
Subscribe to the Podcast and the YouTube Channel
(Click on the images and then click on subscribe)
Apple/Mac Users:
Android Users:
Subscribe to the YouTube Channel:
While you are there, please leave an honest review.
Comments