The Secret Garden

1911 edition cover
Author	Frances Hodgson Burnett
Illustrator	Kara&Brook
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Children's novel
Publisher	William Heinemann
Publication date	1909
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	NA

The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published in 1909. It is one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is now considered a classic of children's literature. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (770x1150, 723 KB) Summary The Secret Garden book cover - Project Gutenberg eText 17396 From The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett http://www. ... Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Burnetts blue plaque in central London Frances Hodgson Burnett, (November 24, 1849 - October 29, 1924) was an English–American playwright and author. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Childrens books redirects here. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... William Heinemann was the founder of a publishing house in London, England that bears his name. ... Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... ISBN redirects here. ... Secret Garden can refer to: Secret Garden, an Irish-Norwegian duo playing New Instrumental Music The Secret Garden, a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett Secret Garden (Big Brother), a secret room used in Big Brother UK series 6 This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that... This article is about the literary concept. ... Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Burnetts blue plaque in central London Frances Hodgson Burnett, (November 24, 1849 - October 29, 1924) was an English–American playwright and author. ... See also: 1908 in literature, other events of 1909, 1910 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

Plot summary

Mary Lennox is a sickly, sour-faced little girl who was born in India to wealthy British parents. Unwanted by her parents, she is thrust into the care of a subservient Ayah from her birth and told to keep out of sight lest her unsightly sallow appearance upset her mother and father. When a cholera epidemic (in some movie versions its an earthquake) makes her an orphan, she is sent to Misselthwaite Manor, an isolated country house in Yorkshire, England. There she is again left mostly to her own devices – this time by her mother's brother-in-law, Archibald Craven, a widower still mourning his beautiful young wife, who died ten years before. In hopes of escaping his painful memories, he travels constantly, leaving the manor in the charge of his housekeeper, the stern Mrs. Medlock. The only person who has any time for the little girl is a chambermaid, Martha, who tells Mary about a walled garden that was the late Mrs. Craven's favourite. No one has entered the garden since she died because her grieving husband locked its entrance and buried the key. An amah (Chinese:阿嬤, Portuguese:ama, Medieval Latin:amma ; or ayah Hindi:āyā, Portuguese:aia, Latin:avia) is a woman employed by a family to clean, look after children, etc. ... Cholera (or Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera) is an extreme diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. ... This article is about the natural seismic phenomenon. ... This article is about the English county. ... Look up manor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A housekeeper is a person responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of (usually residential premises. ... Aft of the Soleil Royal, by Jean Bérain the Elder. ... A chambermaid is a maid who cleans and cares for bedrooms. ...

While exploring the grounds, Mary discovers the key, which had been turned up by a robin digging for worms. Soon after, she finds the hidden door. Once inside, she discovers that although the roses seem lifeless, some of the other flowers have survived. She resolves to tend the garden herself. Although she wants to keep it a secret, she recruits the assistance of Martha's brother Dickon, who has a way with plants and wild animals. Mary gives him money to buy gardening implements and he shows her that the roses, though neglected, are not dead. When Mary's uncle visits the house briefly for the first time since she arrived, Mary asks him for a bit of earth to make a flower garden, and he agrees. Thanks to the invigorating Yorkshire air and her new-found fascination with the garden, Mary herself begins to blossom, and loses her sickly look and unpleasant manner. Binomial name (Linnaeus, 1758) Subspecies 7-10, see text. ...

One night Mary hears someone weeping in another part of the house. When she asks questions, the servants become evasive and say they cannot hear anything. Shortly after her uncle's visit, she goes exploring and discovers her uncle's son, Colin, a lonely, bedridden boy as petulant and disagreeable as Mary used to be. His father shuns him because the child closely resembles his mother. Mr. Craven suffers from mild kyphosis (he is a hunchback), and is morbidly convinced that Colin will develop the same condition. This fear has communicated itself to Colin, who, for purely psychological reasons, has never learned to walk. The servants have been keeping Mary and Colin a secret from one another because Colin doesn't like strangers staring at him and is prone to terrible tantrums. Colin, however, accepts Mary and insists on her visiting him often. Kyphosis (Greek - kyphos, a hump), in general terms, is a curvature of the upper spine. ...

As spring approaches, Colin becomes jealous because Mary is spending more time out in the garden with Dickon than indoors with him. One day he voices his resentment and, when Mary resists, he throws a tantrum. To the surprise and amusement of the servants, Mary continues to stand her ground. That evening, Colin has a hysterical fit, brought on by his fear of dying young. Mary goes to him and, again taking a firm, no-nonsense stance with him, calms him down. When he asks if he can visit the garden with her, she agrees, as she and Dickon had been planning to suggest it themselves, feeling that it would do Colin good. Colin's doctor, (Mr. Craven's brother and Colin's uncle) agrees to have Dickon and Mary take Colin outside in a wheelchair. Colin is delighted with the garden, and visits it with Mary and Dickon whenever the weather allows. As the garden revives and flourishes, so does he. Hysteria is a diagnostic label applied to a state of mind, one of unmanageable fear or emotional excesses. ...

The first person to discover what the children are doing is the old gardener, Ben Weatherstaff, who was a favorite of Colin's mother. Since her death, he has been visiting the locked garden once or twice a year by secretly scaling the wall with a ladder. When he visits the garden for the first time since Mary's arrival (having had to miss several visits because of rheumatism), he is angry with the children until he sees how improved both the garden and Colin are. Colin orders him not to tell anybody, and he agrees. Colin resolves that the next time his father returns from abroad he will be able to walk and run like a normal boy. He accomplishes this through a combination of simple physical exercise and positive thinking. He refuses to think of himself as crippled, and he invents a kind of mantra to keep himself in the right, or "magic," frame of mind. He makes great progress, but keeps it hidden from everyone but Mary, Dickon, and Ben, wanting it to be a surprise. Rheumatism or Rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the heart, bones, joints, kidney, skin and lung. ... In Tibet, many Buddhists carve mantras into rocks as a form of devotion. ...

Mr. Craven has been traveling throughout Europe but hurries home after seeing a vision of his dead wife, imploring him to come to her "in the garden!" When he receives a letter from Martha and Dickon's mother (who also knows the secret) saying "I think your lady would ask you to come if she was here", he decides to return home. He arrives while the children are outdoors. He goes out to see Colin for himself, and finds himself drawn to the secret garden, where he is astonished first to hear children's voices and then to find Colin not only racing Mary and Dickon around the garden, but winning. They take Mr. Craven into the secret garden to tell him everything. Afterward, they walk back to the house where the servants are astonished to see two miracles: Colin walking and his father looking happy again.

Major themes

The author, Frances Hodgson Burnett, was a practitioner of Christian Science due to the premature death of her son as well as personal illness.^[1] As a result, The Secret Garden espouses the benefits of New Thought and theosophy as well as ideas about the healing powers of the mind.^[2] Christian Science is a religious teaching regarding the efficacy of spiritual healing according to the interpretation of the Bible by Mary Baker Eddy, in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (first published in 1875). ... The New Thought Movement or New Thought is comprised of a loosely allied group of denominations, organizations, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of metaphysical beliefs concerning healing, life force, visualization, and personal power. ... Theosophy is a word and a concept known anciently, commonly understood in the modern era to describe the studies of religious philosophy and metaphysics originating with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky from the 1870s. ...

Film, TV, or theatrical adaptations

The Secret Garden has been adapted many times for stage and screen. The first filmed version was made in 1919 by the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation with 17 year old Lila Lee as Mary, but it is considered lost. In 1949, MGM filmed the second adaptation with Margaret O'Brien. This version was mostly in black-and-white, but was colorized whenever the restored garden was shown. It was also adapted by Dorothea Brooking into a six-part BBC television serial in 1959 starring Colin Spaull as Dickon. Brooking was also responsible for adaptions in 1952 and 1975, also for the BBC. In 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame filmed a TV adaptation of the novel starring Gennie James as Mary, Barret Oliver as Dickon, and Jadrien Steele as Colin. A young Colin Firth also made a brief appearance as an adult version of Colin Craven. The Paramount Pictures logo used from 1987 to 1995. ... Lila Lee Lila Lee (July 25, 1901 - November 13, 1973) was a prominent screen actress of the early silent film era. ... A lost film is a film which, for any of several reasons, is no longer in existence. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... The Secret Garden is a 1949 American drama film, the second screen adaptation of the classic 1909 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. ... Margaret OBrien during her career as a child star. ... A colorized image of Laurel and Hardy, from March of the Wooden Soldiers (formally Babes in Toyland). ... Dorothea Brooking (born Dorothea Smith Wright on 7 December 1916 – 23 March 1999) was a British television producer and director of childrens television programmes for the BBC. She also adapted some works for the small screen which she worked on in her other capacities. ... Colin Spaull is a British actor, noted for his television work. ... Hallmark Hall of Fame is a long running anthology program on American television. ... See TV (disambiguation) for other uses and Television (band) for the rock band European networks National In much of Europe television broadcasting has historically been state dominated, rather than commercially organised, although commercial stations have grown in number recently. ... Barret Spencer Oliver (born August 24, 1973) is an American former child actor and currently works as a photographer. ... Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English film, television and stage actor. ...

One notable stage adaptation is a musical with music by Lucy Simon and book and lyrics by Marsha Norman, which opened on Broadway in 1991. The production was nominated for seven Tony Awards, winning Best Book of a Musical and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Daisy Eagan as Mary, at eleven years old the youngest person ever to win a Tony). The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1909 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Lucy Simon (b. ... Marsha Norman was awarded the 1983 Pulitzer Prize, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Hull-Warriner, and Drama Desk Awards for Night, Mother, which received its world premiere at the A.R.T. in 1982. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ... The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is the Tony awarded to the librettist(s) of the musical. ... The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical is awarded to the actress who is voted the best non-starring actress in a musical, whether a new production or a revival. ... Daisy Eagan (born November 4, 1979) is an American actress. ...

The most acclaimed film adaptation was American Zoetrope's 1993 production. It was directed by Agnieszka Holland and starred Kate Maberly as Mary, Heydon Prowse as Colin, Andrew Knott as Dickon and Dame Maggie Smith as Mrs. Medlock. In 2000, a sequel movie entitled Return to the Secret Garden was produced. It was directed by Scott Featherstone and won the Director's Gold Award at the 2001 Santa Clarita International Film Festival. In 2001, Back to the Secret Garden starring Camilla Belle as the American orphan, Lizzie, was directed by Michael Tuchner. It is set when Mary and Colin have married and turned the Craven Manor into a shelter for orphans. American Zoetrope is the name of the studios founded by Francis Ford Coppola, named after a collection of zoetropes he was given in the late 1960s by filmmaker and collector of early motion picture making equipment, Mogens Skot-Hansen. ... Agnieszka Holland (born November 28, 1948 in Warsaw, Poland) is a film and TV director and screenplay writer. ... Kate Maberly (born Kate Elizabeth Cameron Maberly, 14 March 1982) is an English actress. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Knott in The Secret Garden1993 Andrew Knott (born on 22 November 1979) is a British actor. ... Dame Maggie Smith in Gosford Park Dame Margaret Natalie Smith Cross, DBE, (born December 28, 1934 in Ilford, Essex), better known as Maggie Smith, is a British film, stage, and television actress. ... aka Back to the Secret Garden, this 2001 film (U, 100 min) is an update of Francis Hodgson Burnetts original story. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... The timeless classic, The Secret Garden, continues in this inspiring sequel, as a young American girl comes to live at Misselthwaite Manor, now a home for war orphans. ... Belle in The Ballad of Jack and Rose Camilla Belle Routh (born October 2, 1986) better known as Camilla Belle, is an American actress. ...

In 1991, a Japanese animated version of The Secret Garden was made.^[3] Another anime movie, Sōkō no Strain (2006), based on another of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novels A Little Princess, draws some elements from The Secret Garden, most notably the names of Colin, Mary, Martha and Dickon. “Animé” redirects here. ... Sōkō no Strain ) is a mecha anime series by Studio Fantasia. ... A Little Princess is a 1905 childrens novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. ...

Noel Streatfeild's novel The Painted Garden (U.S. title Movie Shoes) has as its central story the filming of The Secret Garden in Hollywood. Noel Streatfeild (December 24, 1897 - September 11, 1986) was an author of childrens books, most famous for her book Ballet Shoes (1936) and later books about children with careers in the arts. ...

References

1. ^ A small person's paradise...New Statesman Article published 19 April 2004
2. ^ Penguin Group Reading Guide on The Secret Garden
3. ^ Himitsu no Hanazono at the Japanese Wiki

External links

• The Secret Garden, available at Project Gutenberg.
• The Secret Garden, available at Project Gutenberg. (illustrated)
• audio book at librivox.org
• The Secret Garden 1911 edition, complete online text with original illustrations
• The Secret Garden free downloads in PDF, PDB and LIT formats