The Secret Garden

Even though The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett was my mom's favorite book of all times, I'd never read it. I thought I knew the story - but I only had some vague snippets of the plot. Once I saw the musical in Philadelphia, I decided that it was about time that I read the book.

I can't believe I waited so long. I loved The Secret Garden. It was a story about how neglect and negative feelings about oneself leads to an unimaginably sad life. The reverse is also true. Positive feelings about oneself and real connections to others lead to a happy and healthy life. Colin would call these positives "magic."

Not wanting to give any spoilers is going to be tough. The story is about a 10-year old girl called Mary who was living in India with her parents when cholera took the lives of everyone she knew. She is shipped off to an uncle in Yorkshire, England. When she arrives, she is sickly looking and has no knowledge of how to communicate with people who aren't her servants. In a word, she's a brat. Her uncle lives in a large house - with over 100 rooms which aren't being used. There are many other secrets as well.

Mary is restricted to her bedroom, an adjoining sitting room and the gardens. Even though it's winter, she goes out to the gardens every day. She learns of a secret garden. The entrance to this garden was locked 10 years earlier. Mary now has a project: to find the secret garden. With the help of some new companions, first Mary finds the door for the garden. A few days later, again with a little bit of help, she finds the buried key.

Never having seen a garden before, Mary instinctively sets to work cleaning up the garden and preparing it for spring. Soon Mary has more help working in the garden. Spending time outside with a goal in mind and forming relationships with her helpers bring more than the garden back to life.

To whom would I recommend this book? First of all, you need to like books with focus on children. You need to be willing to read lots of Yorkshire dialect. And you need to love "magic."

FYI: The overarching theme of the book and the musical are completely the same. But the little details of the plot vary as do the traits of most of the characters.