The Secret Garden

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Appropriate for: All ages

Genre: Children’s Novel

Length: 234 pages

Year of Publication: 1911

The Secret Garden is a classic children’s novel by Francis Hodgson Burnett, published in 1911. The heroine of the story is 10-year-old Mary Lennox – a sickly, spoiled, selfish, rude, dissatisfied brat who lives in India with her British parents among numerous servants. She hardly ever sees her mother and father because they never wanted a little girl. When she was first born, Mary was almost immediately handed over to the care of servants, who have always done everything she ever told them to do. Therefore, Mary has grown up without discipline or adult authority and is now all of the qualities described above. Obviously, this heroine is lacking every feature a heroine should have. But when her parents and many of their servants die from an outbreak of cholera and Mary is sent to live with an uncle she has never even met, our heroine is almost bound to change. 

The house of Mary’s uncle, Archibald Craven, is far away in England, surrounded by a vast and dismal moor. At first, Mary dislikes gloomy Misselthwaite Manor and continues to be her ordinary, miserable self. But when a maid named Martha tells her about a hidden garden that has been locked up for a decade, Mary begins to think of something other than herself. The mystery of this locked-up garden piques her curiosity, so she decides to find the garden herself. Her exploits out-of-doors improve both her health and her heart as she gets more fresh air and exercise, meets and makes friends with both humans and animals, and learns to think less of herself and more of others. But the locked-up garden is not the only secret this mysterious Manor holds. The unexplained wailings Mary hears coming from somewhere deep inside the house entice her to search for the source of the dismal sound. Her discoveries about both the garden and the strange wailings lead to the unearthing of secrets about the hidden past of this mysterious manor and her even stranger uncle, causing the lives of several people to be changed forever.

The Secret Garden is a wonderful children’s story that touches on the importance of friendship, gentleness, compassion, and physical health. However, there are a couple references to a certain “magic” that the children in the story really seem to have faith in. This also goes along with the general feel that it is “Mother Nature” or some sort of a Star Wars-type “force,” not God, who renews the health and happiness of the sickly and dissatisfied Mary and other such characters. This problem it is not extreme, and the magic discussed is not dark magic, but it can still become a very good starter for a discussion of worldviews. 

Besides this slight worldview flaw and at least one insignificant reference to drinking, this book is the perfect novel for readers of all ages. The Secret Garden is filled with many great life-lessons and is a heartwarming story that is perfect for children to read as an alternative to other, less enriching books that are overflowing bookshelves these days. I hope that some day you will take the time to visit the Secret Garden for yourself.