The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden is a middle-grade novel written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was first published as a serialized novel in The American Magazine between November 1910 and August 1911, and in 1911, it was republished in book form. Burnett had already written two extremely successful novels: Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) and A Little Princess (1905). Over her lifetime, she wrote 36 books and plays and numerous short stories and was one of the most successful and highest-paid authors of her time.

Some of her contemporary writers were Lucy Maud Montgomery, Kate Douglas Wiggins, Ellen H. Porter, Rudyard Kipling, J. M. Barrie, and Kenneth Graham.

The Secret Garden has been adapted many times for stage, radio, film, and television and has been deeply beloved by both juvenile and adult readers since its first publication.

This study guide refers to the 100th Anniversary Edition, Kindle format. Please note: The book uses the word “cripple” to describe a bed-ridden character, a term that would have been used during the time period when the story takes place.

Plot Summary

When Mary Lennox was born to English parents in India, her vain and beautiful mother handed her over to a nurse, or “Ayah,” with instructions to keep the infant out of her way. Mary grew up both spoiled and neglected because she always got her own way, but getting her own way made her so unpleasant that no one wanted to be around her. When a cholera epidemic kills her parents and many of the servants, the rest of the servants run away, leaving Mary alone in the house. When she is found, she is sent to England to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven.

Her uncle’s enormous country home, Misselthwaite Manor, is situated on the Yorkshire Moors in the north of England. Mary arrives near the end of winter when everything is cold and dreary, and she hates it. Her uncle is not at home, and Mary is told that he is not interested in seeing her and that he has a hunchback.

Her first morning at Misselthwaite Manor, Mary is awakened by a cheerful country girl, Martha Sowerby, who has been sent to wait on her. Martha tells her about the walled garden on the manor grounds that used to belong to the lady of the house, Lilias Craven. After she died from an accident in the garden, Archibald locked the garden door, buried the key, and forbade anyone to go in.

Mary becomes curious and searches for the garden. She befriends the gardener Ben Weatherstaff, who introduces her to the robin who makes his nest in the garden. The robin leads Mary first to the key, then to the door hidden behind the ivy on a stone wall. Using the key, Mary opens the door and enters the secret garden. She finds it overgrown with roses, and the flowerbeds are choked with weeds and dead grass. Mary discovers green shoots poking out of the soil and clears away the grass and weeds to give them room to grow. That evening, she asks Martha whether she thinks it would be all right for Mary to have some garden tools and a bit of earth of her own. Martha tells Mary about her brother Dickon, who tames wild animals and knows everything about plants and growing things. She promises to send Dickon to fetch Mary a set of garden tools and some flowers that will be easy to grow. Mary trusts Dickon immediately and shows him the secret garden. He tells her what all the plants are and shows her how to plant the seeds.

That night, Mary hears someone crying. Going to investigate, she finds a boy her own age, her cousin Colin, who has been told all his life that he is sickly and weak and will probably die. They quickly become friends. Colin is as spoiled and disagreeable as Mary ever was, but she scolds and bullies him out of his tantrums. She visits him daily with stories about Dickon and the garden until he decides he wants to see it for himself. Mary and Dickon take him there in his wheelchair.

They are discovered by Ben, who is at first angry to find they have invaded Lilias’s beloved garden. He was devoted to her before her death, and she had asked him to tend the garden; he has done so ever since, climbing over the wall to prune the roses and keep them alive. Surprised to see Colin, he blurts out that he thought the young master was unable to walk and had a twisted back and legs. Colin is outraged and pushes himself to his feet, standing upright for the first time in his life to show that he is as straight as anyone. He orders the present company to keep their secret, and afterward, Ben helps the three children restore the garden. Meanwhile, Colin works to restore his strength and health, hoping his father will love him if he is healthy.

Colin’s father has been traveling, avoiding the manor, the memory of his wife’s death, and the sight of his frail son, whom he fears will die. As the children restore the garden, he begins to feel an urge to return home, and one night, he dreams his wife is calling him back to her garden. He returns to Misselthwaite and, following his wife’s voice, finds the garden door unlocked and enters to find his son strong and healthy. The garden has healed them all.