Book Review: The Secret Garden

Book: The Secret Garden by Fances Hodgson Burnett

Description:

What secrets lie behind the doors at Misselthwaite Manor? Recently arrived at her uncle's estate, orphaned Mary Lennox is spoiled, sickly, and certain she won't enjoy living there. Then she discovers the arched doorway into an overgrown garden, shut up since the death of her aunt ten years earlier.

Mary soon begins transforming it into a thing of beauty--unaware that she is changing too. But Misselthwaite hides another secret, as Mary discovers one night. High in a dark room, away from the rest of the house, lies her young cousin, Colin, who believes he is an incurable invalid, destined to die young. His tantrums are so frightful, no one can reason with him. If only, Mary hopes, she can get Colin to love the secret garden as much as she does, its magic will work wonders on him.



Rating: 5 stars

My Review:

What a lovely book this was. I found it to be quite wonderful.

The story began in India focusing on Mary Lennox and how her life was there. She was very spoiled and I would say an unloved child. She spoke to others in a horrible way and treated others as if they were just there to serve her. But when a very tragic health epidemic happened in India leaving her orphaned, Mary is sent to live in England with an uncle whom she has never met.

Mary life takes a change for the better once she moves to the country manor with her uncle because there she met Martha, a kind maid. Prior to moving to the manor, Mary when she lived in India had someone to help her do everything including putting on her shoes. She had expected the same kind of treatment at the manor but was sadly disappointed. Although Martha was nice, she I would say was just the person Mary needed to get her motivated to change (unknowingly of course). Mary began to do things for herself.

I would say the biggest change came when Mary first started to go outside. Having never truly done anything, Mary ended up finding many things to keep her entertained. Such as the robin, Mr. Ben Weatherstaff and of course the secret garden. She ended up meeting Martha's brother Dickon and eventually her cousin Colin.

This was such a wonderful story. The book felt like a magical adventure and had very interesting characters. Reading this made me long for the summer because the way everything was described from the changing of the seasons to the way the garden growed made me want to sit outside and enjoy the summer.

Magic seems to be the main point of the story whether through positive or negative thinking, prayer or embracing life. Each character seems to embody some form of it.

A quote that I enjoy from Colin about the magic in the world:

"Of course there must be lots of magic in the world," he said wisely one day, "but people don't know what it is like or how to make it. Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen."

I feel that is quite true. I absolutely loved reading The Secret Garden and may even try to read more books from Fances Hodgson Burnett in the future.