“And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.”



A beautiful classic filled with magic, faith, friendship and the power of positive thinking! I adored this book from the moment I set my eyes on it. Even though I already knew the plot almost by heart (I watched the movie thousands of times as a kid, and I probably read the book too even though I can't be sure) I enjoyed every single page of this heart-warming tale.



I did not expect this novel to be so deep and beautiful: the more I read for my "Classic of the Month" series, the more I wonder why I don't read more classics, since I seem to adore every single one of them. Everything in this book felt right, the ending was so deep and wholesome, I absolutely have no complains about it! It is true that the mystery (mysteries) gets revealed quite early in the story, and so part of the magic of it goes away from that moment; but the rest of the plot is just as sweet and interesting as the mysterious beginning. Watching little Mary and the other children grow from disagreeable little creatures to healthy, strong boys and girls was just heart-warming. This is what I sign up for when I read a children's classic! Five shiny stars :)

The Secret Garden was not on my reading list as a child so reading it for the first time as an adult was quite fun! It is a classic story that introduces an extremely disagreeable, ill-tempered orphan and demonstrates how the beauty and magic of nature and the power of thinking positively can do much to transform and heal. Themes of transformation and renewal on many levels are explored within the characters and the landscape. The Yorkshire moor emanates a mystical presence and helps to set the mood for the magical scenes. The children are the focus of this story and they learn many valuable lessons such as the value of friendship, the beauty and healing in nature and the outdoors, the importance of hard work, and the power in transformation of body and mind.

Από τα καλύτερα βιβλία που είχα διαβάσει κατά την περίοδο της παιδικής μου ηλικίας.Είναι από εκείνες τις ιστορίες και τις εικόνες που τις διαβάζεις και στο μυαλό γίνεται ολόκληρη γιορτή.Ο "μυστικός κήπος" πραγματικά φαίνεται να είναι ένα μαγευτικό μέρος που θα επιθυμούσατε να βρίσκεστε εκεί.
Οι εικόνες του ίδιου του κήπου είναι απολύτως εκπληκτικές,το πανέμορφο τοπίο και η αρχιτεκτονική που χαρακτηρίζεται σε αυτό.Το σύνολο των εικόνων αντικατοπτρίζει το θαύμα και τη μαγεία που έχουν κάνει το βιβλίο της Frances Hodgson Burnett κλασικό.

Κάθε χαρακτήρας είναι ξεχωριστός και μοναδικός,ο καθένας έχει λίγο ιδιότροπη προσωπικότητα που το κάνουν να φαίνεται πραγματικό,με εκείνα τα μαγικά μυστικά που χει κάθε παιδάκι και τα αθώα παιχνίδια με την φύση κι η αγάπη προς αυτή....όμορφο και το μήνυμά του για το πώς η επαφή με την (πανέμορφη) φύση,η αλληλοβοήθεια και η επικοινωνία μπορούν να μας βοηθήσουν να ξεπεράσουμε ό,τι μας βασανίζει και μας κατατρέχει.

Ξαναδιαβάζοντάς το έκανα ένα ταξιδάκι στον ονειρικό κήπο της παιδικής αθωότητας...που όλοι την κρύβουμε κάπου βαθιά με ξεχωριστό τρόπο ο καθένας...και καλό είναι να θυμόμαστε να την βγάζουμε στην επιφάνεια...γιατί μόνο το κομμάτι του παιδιού μέσα μας μπορεί να υποκινήσει τα νήματα της δύναμης,της θέλησης και των ονείρων.
Αν θέλετε να ξεφύγετε από τον πραγματικό κόσμο για λίγες ώρες,σίγουρα θα το πρότεινα.

The Secret Garden is one of my favorite books of all time. It's the book that started my childhood obsession with England and its moors and manor houses, and it's no less magical reading it as an adult.

I mean, I guess adult me is more aware that it's somewhat racist (lots of unflattering talk of “natives” and “blacks” from India), and also a little misogynistic (kids suggesting that a woman should say nice things to her husband so that he doesn't beat her), but I suppose that it's a product of its time. At the same time, however – domestic violence and racism aside – it's a heartwarming tale of childhood friendship and transformation and nature and magic.

And the setting … the setting is absolutely fantastic. Yorkshire is a beautiful place to begin with, but the description in this book really takes it to a whole new level. You almost feel as if you're there in the gardens of Misselthwaite Manor with Mary and Dickon and Colin, watching the robin make his nest in the secret garden. The moor is also described exquisitely, and every time I read this book it makes me pine a little for the English countryside.

The characters, too, are wonderful. Martha and Ben Weatherstaff are my two personal favorites, and who doesn't love the animal-charming Dickon? Mary and Colin are both rather unlikeable children in the beginning, but find themselves transformed for the better by the garden's magic. And I love “hearing” the characters speak Broad Yorkshire, which is perhaps one of the reasons that I adore Martha and Ben so much.

The new illustrated edition by Chronicle Books is gorgeous. Kate Lewis's paintings are colorful and appealing, and she does a fantastic job of capturing the spirit of the text. It's really a lovely edition of this classic book.

The Secret Garden is a beloved classic for a reason, and it'll forever be one of my very favorite nostalgic reads. A resounding five stars, as always.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for providing me with an advance copy of this edition of The Secret Garden to review.

I first read this wonderful and evocative absolute and utter gem of a story at around the age of twelve (and it was likely one of the first longer novels I read entirely in English, not counting those books read entirely for school). And I simply adored Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden when I read it as a young teenager (or rather, a tween), I continued to love it when I reread it multiple times while at university, and I still massively loved the novel when I reread the story for the Children's Literature Group in 2011 (and I much continue to love it, having reread it at least twice or so since then). And indeed I honestly do think that I have actually enjoyed The Secret Garden even more as an adult than the times I read the novel when I was younger (and that is definitely saying an awful lot). For when I first read The Secret Garden as a young teenager, I was certainly much enchanted by the garden (and of course, the Robin), and really liked and enjoyed reading about the Sowerbys, but I did kind of consider both Mary and Colin as somewhat too spoiled and selfish (I understood their problems and indeed felt empathy, but I also felt more than a bit annoyed at and by them, something that I certainly did not experience as much during my adult rereads). Because as an adult reader, I actually and firmly believe that most, if not even all of both Mary's and Colin's problems and behavioural quirks (be they emotional or physical) were and are the result of parental abandonment and emotional neglect (maybe even abuse). They act and react towards the world the way the world (or at least how most of the world) has always acted and reacted towards them. And without the garden, but also without characters like Martha, Susan and Dickon Sowerby, without Ben Weatherstaff and the Robin, there would never have been any change in and for Mary (or at least, not ever enough change), and by extension, there would never have been any change in and for Colin and his father either.

Now one interesting and thought-provoking fact presented in The Secret Garden is that there actually seems to be a real and almost palpable absence of nurturing father figures throughout (except maybe Dickon, but he is just a boy and in many ways resembles more a Pan-like nature deity, and Ben Weatherstaff really is too old and curmudgeonly to be considered nurturing and fatherly). We do have quite a number of nurturing mother figures portrayed who aid Mary, and later Colin in their recovery (Susan and Martha Sowerby, and even Mary later becomes somewhat of a motherly and nurturing figure towards Colin), but we never see or hear much about a Mr. Sowerby (he is a complete nonentity). And while indeed much is made of the fact that Mary Lennox' mother did not seem to want her child (a fact that is rightfully criticised), that Mr. Lennox did not trouble himself much about his daughter either, while mentioned briefly, is also seemingly accepted as an acceptable societal given. Also that Mr. Craven has spiritually and emotionally totally abandoned Colin, and cannot stand to even see him when he is awake just because his son's eyes supposedly remind him of the boy's dead mother, while this is indeed noted in The Secret Garden, his rather vile and nasty attitude and behaviour towards Colin, towards his son is not (at least in my humble opinion) subject to nearly the same amount of harsh criticisms that Mary's emotional and spiritual abandonment by her mother is. And while I do realise and even understand that the death of Mr. Craven's wife was traumatic for him, both Mr. Carven's and Mrs. Lennox' actions, or rather their lack of love and acceptance towards their children have had the same horrible psychological (and psychosomatic) consequences, basically turning both of them into emotional cripples, and Colin into a hysterical hypochondriac who thinks he has a crooked back.

The Secret Garden clearly and lastingly demonstrates that children (no that anyone) can only show love, can only be lovable, if they have experienced love themselves. In the beginning of the novel, Mary is described as tyrannical, unpleasant, thoroughly "unlovable" and also as somewhat odd. But how can Mary know anything about love, if she has never experienced love? Her parents certainly do not seem to want her, and she has basically been abandoned to the care of servants, who have also been instructed to keep Mary out of the way as much as possible (and in her innermost soul, Mary likely also realises this and much and rightly resents this). Mary's temper tantrums towards her Ayah and other servants, her desire to always get her own way, are not merely Mary imitating the behaviour she witnesses among the ex-pat community in India (although that likely also has a major part to play). I believe that in many ways, the servants also act as representatives of her absent parents, and by lashing out at the servants, Mary is also lashing out at her careless, unloving, absent parents by proxy.

And even when Mary first arrives at Misselthwaite, there is still a real and ever-present danger that she will never be able to change, to emerge out of her shell (or to change enough, for at least in England, Mary has the opportunity to go outside and play/run, which was not possible in India due to the hot, stiflingly humid climate), for many of the inhabitants of the manor, but especially Mrs. Medlock and Mr. Craven regard Mary, or seem to regard Mary the same way that her parents did, either not at all, or as a cumbersome, even loathsome burden. And without Martha, Dickon, and the influence of Martha's mother (Mrs. Sowerby), and of course, Ben Weatherstaff and the Robin (who is a bird, but might just represent the spirit of Colin's deceased mother), not much would likely have ever changed for Mary or within Mary. There might well have been some physical improvement of her health, but her mental health, her soul, would likely have remained for the most part sour and disagreeable and stagnated.

Finally, I do have to admit that I have a bit of a problem with the fact that oh so many of the adults portrayed in The Secret Garden (and even inherently positive individuals like Martha and Susan Sowerby) keep bringing up the fact that Mary's mother was supposedly very physically attractive, and that in many ways, Mary is often judged negatively because she is plain, while her mother was considered very beautiful. However, Mary's mother does not in any way care about or for her daughter, and had, in fact, never wanted a daughter, and in my opinion, her careless, unloving attitude (and that of her husband as well) is reflected in Mary's countenance, her whole being. Thus, even though Mrs. Lennox might have been physically sweet looking, she basically has a careless and unloving and massively sour (read nastily ugly) soul, which is in my opinion reflected in her daughter (both spiritually and physically).

And just to furthermore point out that this here "Norton Critical Edition" of The Secret Garden (which seems to have been published in 2006) is to be most highly recommended, especially for anyone interested in both the novel (the narrative) and its historical contexts, diverse critical voices etc., as it provides not only the text proper (which is simply and utterly magical, of course), but also much supplemental information and materials about Frances Hodgson Burnett and her timeless literary classic. And although I do not think that this edition lists every piece of extant literary criticism on The Secret Garden, there truly and fortunately is a goodly amount presented, as well as a solid, although not extensive selected bibliography (most definitely a more than adequate starting point for serious academic study and research).

I admit I was charmed by this children's classic. It started out promising as the beginning of a great tragedy with a monstrous girl-child but thanks to a garden, an evil-looking gardener, and a magical robin, we learn that children OUGHT to run about unsupervised outside and get fattened up for the slaughter.

ALTERNATE VERSION OF THE CLASSIC:

The two kids, now happy and well-adjusted and delightful instead of being wailing banshees now have ruddy cheeks and (as we have been told by the author MANY TIMES) they're fattened-up.

In comes Hitchcockian Robins to feast on whatever has been left in the Secret Garden. No one will ever find their remains. :)


Ahh, alas, modern sensibilities. :) But no, nothing like that happens. It's actually rather delightful and maybe in a year or two I'll be reading this wonderful book to my girl.

I may or may not embellish a bit, tho. :)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a lovely book. I had a jolly time reading it, and so will you.

The best part about this book is the detailed description of the childish nature of the protagonists, which is bound to bring a smile on the lips of the readers. No matter how sad you're feeling, or how depressed you are, The Secret Garden is sure to lift your mood. The way the author has described the garden, the creatures, and the nature in general, is heartwarming.

It is a perfect book for any age group - the child in me would have equally enjoyed it had I read it in my teens. Combined with the message the book provides, it has joined the list of my all-time best books.

It is a book worth having in your collection. Worth a re-read.

Verdict: Highly recommended.

This was an absolute joy ride and like my friend Karin put it, it was 'lovely and heartwarming'

I FINALLYYYY found a classic that i actually like and understand! most likely because its a children’s book but we’re not going to talk about that.

Having read The Secret Garden as a child I really wanted to read this book as an adult to see would I still feel the magic of the story many years on. Well I felt the magic just as I did many years ago.

This is a beautiful book and so well written, it has everything a story needs to fuel the imagination of a child, a big rambling house set on the moors, a secret garden, a couple of spoilt children and a big family who value life and friendships and put others needs before theirs.

I escaped in this book and although I knew the story and the outcome I loved every page as the writing is so descriptive and the characters so well drawn that this book comes alive. I have seen the film several times of the secret garden and yet reading the book the characters and places took on a completely different image which was great as Frances Hodgson Burnett really knew how to capture her readers.

So glad I picked this book to read again, as a good story, well written never grows old.

This was one of my favorite books from childhood, and I decided to re-read it this spring after revisiting another beloved FHB work, "A Little Princess."

Like so many famous children's books, the story doesn't really get going until a child is left alone without parents. The surprising heroine of "Secret Garden" is the unlikeable Mary Lennox, who had lived in India with her rich parents until they both died of cholera, and then she was sent to live with a wealthy-and-distracted uncle in Yorkshire, England. At her uncle's manor she discovers a love for gardens, and she becomes obsessed with a mysterious story about a secret garden on the property that no one has been in for 10 years, which is when her aunt died in an accident. There are also strange noises in the house at night, and Mary becomes determined to find out the source of those odd cries.

I was a fan of the musical version of "Secret Garden" that had a good stage run back in the 1990s, and during this re-read I was struck by how the show had improved on some of the story points in the book, giving them more color and detail.

I still have my childhood copy of "Secret Garden," even though its spine is broken and there are loose pages everywhere. I'll never throw it away, and I'll probably continue to re-read it every few years when I need a quick dose of a comforting story. Oh, the power of a beloved book from childhood!

Favorite Passages
"At that moment a very good thing was happening to her. Four good things had happened to her, in fact, since she came to Misselthwaite Manor. She had felt as if she had understood a robin and that he had understood her; she had run in the wind until her blood had grown warm; she had been healthily hungry for the first time in her life; and she had found out what it was to be sorry for some one."

"Living as it were, all by herself in a house with a hundred mysteriously closed rooms and having nothing whatever to do to amuse herself, had set her inactive brain to working and was actually awakening her imagination. There is no doubt that the fresh, strong, pure air from the moor had a great deal to do with it. Just as it had given her an appetite, and fighting with the wind had stirred her blood, so the same things had stirred her mind. In India she had always been too hot and languid and weak to care much about anything, but in this place she was beginning to care and to want to do new things. Already she felt less contrary, though she did not know why."

Book 16 of 30 for my 30 day reading challenge.