A review by ovenbird_reads
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

4.0

I love this book. My father read it to me when I was little and I just finished reading it too my nearly 5 year old. So much of it is beautiful but there are also some uncomfortable things around the descriptions of the healing, civilized beauty of the English moor and the brutal, hot, dry climate of India which, the author suggests, prevents people from moving around, playing, and being healthy. There is a painful dichotomy set up between England and India which did marr my memory of this a bit, but the core story is still lovely. The friendship between Mary and Colin is beautiful. Dickon is still a magical, mythical presence, and the language is beautiful, allowing you to sink into the restorative power of nature. I loved the idea of a collective magic created though ritual in nature, will power, and the strength of love and friendship. I did balk a little at the "perfect mother" image put forth in the character of Mrs. Sowerby. There's an essay on there but I won't write it here. Despite the problematic elements I loved reading this to my daughter. It has a beautiful poetry and cadence and left me wishing for a secret Garden of my own to hide away in for the rest of this pandemic, to somehow emerge later whole and healthy and healed.