The_Secret_Garden___Review

THE SECRET GARDEN Frances Hodgson Burnett (November 24, 1849 – October 29, 1924) was an English–American playwright and author. She is best known for her children's stories, in particular The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy. The secret garden, authored by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is a book full of fantasy, magic, and mysteries. It has two main characters- Mary Lennox and Collin Craven. Mary Lennox’s was the daughter of a rich British colonists of India Part of Mary Lennox’s childhood is spent in India, where she is described as a very ugly, spoilt, ill-tempered and unwanted child. Her mother, an attractive and charming lady, did not like to be bothered by Mary and therefore the ayahs (maids) had been instructed to give Mary everything she wanted and to keep her away from Mrs. Lennox’s sight. Mary’s life took an unexpected turn when her parents died in India due to cholera. She was then shipped off to Yorkshire, England to live with her only living relative, her uncle named Mr. Archibald Craven at Misselthwaite Manor. Life at the manor proved to be more hectic as she did not have ayahs to wait upon her as she had in India. She started learning how do things on her own and also learnt about the amount of fun it was running, skipping and making friends. In India nobody had liked her and she had liked nobody, but now in Misselthwaite Manor she started to like people. She discovered a secret garden which she started taking care of with the help of Dickon, a boy who could charm animals and grow almost everything. Later she discovered that her uncle had a son, her cousin, Collin Craven, who was feared to be a hunchback like his father. Mary enjoyed his company, but thought him to be very spoilt, for he was given everything he wanted in fear of his throwing a tantrum which would end with his having a very high fever. Later, as Collin learns to laugh with Mary and Dickon, his health improves. He too starts visiting the secret garden in his chair, which would be pushed by Dickon. Soon, as the days go by and the garden grows prettier, Mary and Collin too grow along with it. The secret garden is kept a secret between the children and later includes the gardener, and Dickon’s mother. The garden is not the only secret, the children have many other secrets, which I shall leave you to discover yourself when you read the book. Towards the end of the story Mr. Craven has a dream in which his late wife urges him to visit the secret garden, telling him that she is waiting for him there. When he visits the secret garden, he sees his so called invalid son running and this makes him realize the mistake he had made by neglecting his son. At the end, Mary is a happy, loved girl; Colin, a walking, normal, happy child who knows that he is going to live and Mr. Craven becomes a happy and proud father who has learnt that one has to move on in life and live life to the fullest. If I sum up the ending I can say (like they do in all fairy tales) “… And they lived happily ever after!” I enjoyed this book a lot and especially the part where Mary first hears a child crying. I also learnt two very important lessons from this book that is- children need to be close to nature in order to have an all round development of their personality and that children should not be neglected. Mother Nature plays an important part in nurturing and developing a balanced personality of a child.