Now indeed, with The Secret Garden Cookbook: Inspiring Recipes from the Magical World of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden author Amy Cotler presents a totally delightful and also simply and utterly perfect gem of a literary cookbook.

For yes and in my in this case actually not so humble opinion, The Secret Garden Cookbook: Inspiring Recipes from the Magical World of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden truly is an absolutely fascinating and wonderful tome, featuring not only over forty traditionally Yorkshire (and indeed also all totally scrumptious looking) recipes and which incarnations are indeed generally located right smack within the pages of The Secret Garden (such as for example the porridge that Mary Lennox refuses to eat when she first arrives at Misselthwaite Manor or the out of doors cooked eggs and potatoes with which Dickon temps Mary and Colin in the secret garden when their appetites have returned but they still want to keep this a secret from Mrs. Medlock until Colin in strong enough to surprise his father) but also and for academic inclined I including both a wonderful and enlightening introduction on how food and its own magic and sense of nourishment play such an important role for Frances Hodgson Burnett in her The Secret Garden as well as enlightening details on English (and of course by this also mostly Yorkshire) culinary history (and all of this embellished and graced by quotes from The Secret Garden and yes indeed, very much appreciatively, also with many photographs of the end products of the featured recipes).

And of course and naturally, with my total and heartfelt delight with and in both Amy Cotler’s printed words and her presented recipes as well as considering that I have always wanted to own a cookbook of Yorkshire recipes (not to mention that The Secret Garden is and remains one of my absolutely favourite novels of all time), there is indeed no way that I would and could rank The Secret Garden Cookbook: Inspiring Recipes from the Magical World of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden with anything less than five glowing stars and to highly and warmly, smilingly recommend it.

4.5 stars

full review to come

Rating- 3.5 stars

As you can guess, this book is based on The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. No this isn't a retelling or an extension of the original story. Infact, the interesting twist in this book is that it is a cookbook which walks you through all the delicacies that have been made in the original story.

The book brings alive the food that Mary, Dickon and Colin experience throughout the story. Usually when we read a novel, or watch a tv show, there is this part of us which starts craving the same food that we read or saw. I personally experienced that. Even though, I don't like hot chocolate that much but when I read that after a long wintry night they settled with a cuppa hot chocolate and watched TV, that sounds something I'd wanna do and I start craving some hot chocolate.

So this book was such a great way to enjoy those cravings and you know it makes the story even more personal. This book has beautiful illustrations and is divided into 7 chapters which are specific and actually even reading these recipies makes my mouth water, can't wait to make them!

The only con that I found was the unclarity of specifics, like, the microwave instructions, the substitutions, etc. My personal favourite recipie from the book is lemon curd tarts, it sounded easy and also came with the microwave instructions. So yes, give this book a try if you are a fan of the story like me, and also foooood!!

NetGalley ARC.

Truth: I've never read The Secret Garden. *gasp* I KNOW. Crazy. I have seen the movie. Or one of them. Not the newest one. One that was made in the 1990's, I think. So I do know the gist. And this was a fun cookbook, much like the The Little Women Cookbook: Tempting Recipes from the March Sisters and Their Friends and Family I read and reviewed last year. These cookbooks are good for fans of those books or just for fans of cooking old-fashioned recipes. I liked a few of the recipes in this book and the little snippets about The Secret Garden and the quotes from the book made me want to read it so I will have to add it to this year's reading list!

A lovely book with wonderful illustrations, quotes from The Secret Garden and great recipes inspired by the book.
It was an excellent read and I want to try some of the recipes.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Secret Garden was one of my most beloved books in my childhood and this cookbook brought back so many wonderful memories. I was pleased to see recipes for dozens of dishes that Mary & Colin enjoyed, especially the one for Dickon’s Fire Roasted Potatoes & Eggs inspired by the novel’s Chapter 24. Pickup a copy of this gem, cook some of these dishes to share with your little one while they’re simultaneously discovering the wonders of Frances Hodgson Burnett‘s world of The Secret Garden.

This is a charming cookbook with some really sweet illustrations and some fun recipes to try. The recipes are clear and easy to follow, so it will not be too problematic trying them.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

I love these cookbooks adapted from classic novels! The first one I saw was from Little Women and loved it! The Secret Garden was just as beautiful and fun. It made me nostalgic for when I was a child.

Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to review this book for my honest opinion. This is a cute cookbook using The Secret Garden as the theme. The recipes were well researched and adapted to our current time period with notes about how things were done during the time period that The Secret Garden was set. This would be a cute display cookbook as well as the basis for a time period luncheon.

3.5 stars

full review to come

Full Review:

4 Stars - I recommend if you enjoy cookbooks and classic novels.

A cookbook with recipes and tibits from the time period of The Secret Garden. AUTHOR has spent time researching the foods mentioned in the book, and cookbooks written during the time period to share similar recipes to the ones Mary, Colin, and Dikon would have enjoyed. She also includes an entire section on Indian food and Anglo-Indian food as during this time period India was colonized by England. Some of the recipes are updated versions for modern cooks, while others are fairly true to their original recipes.

The cover drew me to this cookbook. The illustrations are absolutely darling, and made me want to dive back into the world of the The Secret Garden. I was especially excited to read this one after enjoying The Little Women Cookbook so much! I love that the author of this book did a lot of research related to not only which dishes were mentioned in the book The Secret Garden, but also into recipes from cookbooks written in that time period. While some of the recipes are updated for modern cooks and palates, some are also fairly true to their original versions. I loved learning more about the world during the time of the book through tidbits of history and every day life that were shared in these pages. I also enjoyed that she talks a lot about the history of colonizing India and how that influenced both the book but also the culinary history of England. The excerpts from The Secret Garden containing the particular dishes were also so sweet and brought a lot of nostalgia to the cookbook. I think that flipping through this lovely book will definitely inspire readers to have an Anglo-Indian tea or classic English breakfast of their own. From recipes for English crumpets, to fresh mango chutney, Welsh rabbit, and Cornish pasties this book has many tempting recipes. I will definitely be picking up a copy of this for my own shelves after it publishes on 1/14/20.

Right After Reading:

This is very cute and interesting. Full review to come.

This is the ONLY fiction book I like. It is not really fiction but in some parts it is. It is based like in the old times and I like book that aren't based in the present. It shows friendship, family love and that sort of things. What I like the most is that the idea is really original. It is on a little girl, and that is different then most of the stories based on family problems and sickness. So I guess that whatI'm saying is that the idea, the way it is written, the story & characters are original.