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    The Secret Garden
    The Secret Garden
    The Secret Garden
    Ebook390 pages4 hours

    The Secret Garden

    By Frances Hodgson Burnett

    4/5

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJan 1, 1987
    Author

    Frances Hodgson Burnett

    Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was an English-American author and playwright. She is best known for her incredibly popular novels for children, including Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess, and The Secret Garden.

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    Reviews for The Secret Garden

    4/5

    6,183 ratings220 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Having just re-read "Black Beauty" and being disappointed, i was nervous about revisiting this book but, thankfully, my fears were unfounded. "The Secret Garden" was as delightful as the first time I read it many, many years ago.
    • 3/5
      There is a lot to like about this children's classic: the set-up (Mary's family is all killed off during an outbreak of cholera in India - ouch! You don't have cold-hearted openings like that so often these days, and certainly not in this genre), the characterisations, the way that Hodgson Burnett attaches her story to the landscape of the Moors, the way that good life lessons are carefully disseminated without every becoming too cloying... and yet, because the ending was so well sign-posted by the halfway stage of the book, some sections did tend towards the tedious. Add to that the generally poor treatment meted out to the underclass (the poor, the gardeners, the household staff) and you end up with a book that it's easy to like and easy to be put off by. I'm glad I read it, and I would have no difficulty in recommending it to others, but there is a part of me that thinks that this book's time has been and gone.
    • 4/5
      The Secret Garden tells the story of Mary, a young girl of privilege growing up in India who, after her parents' death of cholera, is swept away to live in her estranged uncle's Yorkshire manor house in England. Spoiled and disagreeable, with no history of any true friendships, she must adapt to a new environment and learn to entertain herself.I'm one of probably a very few who have not previously read or seen the movie adaptation of The Secret Garden. I've had a copy of the book on my shelf for quite a while, but it wasn't until just recently that I decided to delve into an audio copy available on Hoopla, which I devoured pretty quickly while doing various work & household activities. This book is definitely a product of its era (published in 1911), but that's part of its charm. The most enjoyable aspect for me was reading about the true pleasure of the discovery of a garden and the effects that discovery can have on a child's imagination and outlook on life. Sometimes it's the simple things which can bring us such pleasure, and it's nice to be able to look at that through a child's eye.
    • 5/5
      Why did I wait so long to read this classic? The plot of this book centers around Mary Lennox, who came to England to live with a brooding uncle who she has never met as her parents both died of Cholera. She was a most disagreeable child. While there, she discovers her most disagreeable cousin who has been told he is an invalid from birth. She also meets Dicken, a Yorkshire lad who introduces the moor to Mary and her cousin. Just delightful!
    • 5/5
      Mary, a spoiled girl, is sent to live with her uncle after the death of her parents in India. Encouraged to get outside, Mary discovers a secret garden, waiting to be brought back to life. With the help of her new friend Dickon, she transforms the garden and the garden transforms everyone who enters. This is another one of my favorite books. This book describes the garden in such detail that it can help students imagine what the garden looks like. The students could write about what they would do if they found a secret garden of their own. They could also compare and contrast this book with the movie version as well.
    • 4/5
      Fun audiobook with Fiona Hughes reading it.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite childhood books, about a young girl named Mary who is sent to live with her recluse Uncle in England after her parents die in India. She befriends her spoiled cousin and a local common boy, and together they discover an abandoned garden.
    • 4/5
      I loved this as a child and reading it as an adult was a treat. A must read.
    • 3/5
      A really good read, and a classic, but not really my thing.
    • 5/5
      This charming children’s classic, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is worth reading as an adult, even if you read it first as a child. The story vividly and accurately portrays the emotional journey that many third-culture-kids experience, as they confront the reverse-culture-shock of repatriation.Mary Lennox is a nine-year-old, British military brat, born and raised in British Colonial India. The story begins in the midst of a cholera epidemic, which kills both of her parents. When a pair of British officers discover Mary all alone in her parents’ empty bungalow, she is quickly sent “home” to England, to live with an uncle she has never met. Although the “spoilt and sour” demeanor Mary exhibits at the start of the book is certainly in part the result of attachment issues caused by neglectful parents, it is also very clear that many of the things that trouble her about her new home are simply the result of culture shock. And, as is typical for TCKs “returning home” to their passport countries, her ignorance of local customs is perceived as willful insolence, and any mention she makes of “how things were done” in India, is perceived as boastful arrogance.It is only when she begins applying her TCK skills of “foreign” language acquisition (learning to speak the Yorkshire dialect spoken by the local people), studying the details of her new environment (learning to understand an appreciate the strange natural beauty and wildlife of the moor), and working on collaborative projects with local residents (reviving a neglected, secret garden), that she overcomes her grief, and begins to thrive in her passport culture.And the secret to her success? The “magic” of choosing to change her attitude toward the foreign land she now calls home.
    • 5/5
      “The Secret Garden” passed me by during childhood. Don’t know why, as I read a lot during my primary school years.Having read and enjoyed it as an adult, however, I’m certain I would’ve loved it as a child. It has that charming quality that you find in Louis May Alcott's children's books.The descriptive parts are vivid. I’m no gardening fanatic, but loved every minute of following little Mary around the huge gardens, especial the secret one. I like how the robin is used as a character, and how he helps to change Mary from a selfish brat into a precious child.My only disappointment – a slight one at that – is the two closing chapters. Without giving anything away, the narrative switches gears in that it changes focus from Mary to Colin and his father. Yes, this is important, and it should be worked through to a satisfactory closure, but Mary is sidelined, pushed right of the limelight, when this – in my mind at least – is her story. In other words, I felt disappointed that the main character doesn’t get the last word in or have the same level of closure as the supporting cast.Despite the above criticism, it’s not so disappointing that it detracts from the story overall. Therefore, I feel this charming little tale deserves five stars.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite childhood books, about a young girl named Mary who is sent to live with her recluse Uncle in England after her parents die in India. She befriends her spoiled cousin and a local common boy, and together they discover an abandoned garden.
    • 4/5
      A very sweet, and well written book. A perfect read for February/March/April, and fits the transition from winter to summer. I just disliked Colin so much, that it weighed down my opinion of the book. In the middle of the book you find colin and, after that the focus on Mary disappears almost completely. I was very displeased with that, because she was in sort the main character. That said it is a book that makes you very happy, and makes you think about being outside more.
    • 4/5
      Not an exciting adventure, but a sweet story. I enjoyed the story probably as much as I did when I read it as a child. An ignored, lonely, spoiled child unites with another ignored, lonely, spoiled child and they have childish "adventures" together. I enjoyed seeing the children grow together.
    • 4/5
      What a sweet story this was. I can't wait to have the opportunity to sit with both my granddaughters and read this out loud with them.
    • 4/5
      After Mary Lennox's parent die, she is sent from India to Yorkshire, where, ignored by the adults, she finds a secret garden and a few other of the manor's secrets as well. I never read this as a child for some reason, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I had expected, to be honest. I think I had expected a more simplistic story, but it's quite complex (for a children's story) and the characters are well-developed as well (even if one of them tends slightly toward caricature). Very feel-good read.
    • 5/5
      Very very close to the movie version that I fell in love with as a child. For a classic it is very easy to read and easy to follow. The story is full of magic and a child's wonder. Very entertaining and captivating. Highly recommend.
    • 4/5
      This was the first book I read in school and I loved it then. I love it now. I would definitely recommend it.
    • 4/5
      lovely story about the power of nature and nurture to restore and teach young and old
    • 4/5
      I love this book! I think the author would have had a slightly stronger message if she hadn't gone into exposition on the power of focusing on the positive; the narrative carried that message very strongly all by itself. I cried at the end. I will be re-reading this one; it's like therapy in book form.
    • 5/5
      An "children's book" adults should read or reread

      When I was young, I skipped from Golden Books and comic books to adult reading and missed many of the classics for children. Reading The Secret Garden now as an older adult opens the gate to remembering the Magic when I was young enough to know that everything and everyone was constantly new and fresh and rich with living.
    • 5/5
      I cherished this book as a child, and I still adore it as an adult. Not all books hold up well into adulthood, I am thrilled that this one did.

      I just finished reading this together with my daughter, who loves The Secret Garden as much as I do. We read a beautifully illustrated (unabridged) edition, by the talented illustrator Inga Moore.
    • 5/5
      An old story that is well deserving of classic status. Timeless story of friendship, change, hope, motivation, and working together. Ends as expected, but makes you feel good all the way.
    • 3/5
      The story overall was a good one and I really enjoyed Mary as a character however I did feel as though there were something missing. There was no real climax in the story which made it a bit boring and slow at times. Also feel like some key characters were underdeveloped when they should have been further explored.
    • 3/5
      I'd probably give this a 3.5 star rating if that was an option. I enjoyed the book. I did. But it didn't really resonate with me the way it might have had I read it when I was younger.
    • 4/5
      I've been on a roll this holiday season re-reading old children's classics, and I returned to this book with some trepidation fearing that it would be so saccharine sweet that I would need a countervailing insulin shot. Luckily I was wrong.The story does not romanticize it's two main characters. Mary Lenox is an unloved spoiled brat living in India. when her parents die in a cholera epidemic. She is shipped off to live with her austere uncle in England. There she remains just as disagreeable as she was in India However, she is befriended by a young servant, Martha, who tells her about a secret garden on the estate. She finds the garden and with the help of Martha's brother Dickon , they start putting the garden together again.One nigh Mary hears crying from down the hall & finds a secret bedroom (naturally) where a young boy she discovers is her cousin Collin is living. He is thought to be doomed to be a hunchback (why? we don't find that out except that these kinds of illnesses are a staple of Victorian fiction) He is also spoiled and fractious and largely ignored by his father who is in perpetual mourning for his mother.The two become friends and Mary and Dicken take Collin out into the garden where he, of course learns that he isn't a cripple at all. The story shows how the power of both love and friendship can transform lives. A good moral lesson for today.
    • 5/5
      great book
    • 5/5
      When i was reading this, I found it very good, but it caught me quite unawares, when there was slow build up, towards the end, which left me with a lump in my throat. Very powerful. Brilliant story.
    • 4/5
      Wish I hadn't waited most of my life to read this delightful book. I would invite each and every character to tea. How can a book be bad when it is based on the recuperative value of magic.
    • 5/5
      Two very spoiled and ill-mannered children are brought out of isolation by the healing power of a garden. A timeless and well told tale.

    Book preview

    The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

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