the secret garden by frances hodgson burnett

(Screenwriters might call this a logline.) For an example, we can use Hannah Sheppard’s pitch test: Mary sets out to discover the secrets of Misselthwaite and bring the garden back to life.ĭespite the complexities of any novel, I think it’s useful when studying structure to see if a novel’s plot can be distilled into one line.

She also hears rumors of a mysterious garden, locked up for over a decade after the death of her uncle’s wife. The manor is full of secrets, though, and Mary often hears the screams of a child echoing its halls at night, despite the servants’ insistence that it is only the wind. At Misselthwaite, she is mostly ignored and left to wander outside in the gardens. Mary is disagreeable, used to being waited on, and initially does not even know how to dress herself. After the death of her parents, she is sent to live at her mysterious uncle’s Yorkshire estate, Misselthwaite Manor. The Secret Garden tells the story of Mary Lennox, a spoiled young English girl being raised in India.

Classic children’s novels are my favorite books to study and pick apart when I’m looking at structure, as they are concise enough to read in a single afternoon, and yet as complex as any adult novel. Long considered a classic, it’s still sometimes dismissed by scholars as “just a children’s book.” But children’s books can provide a master class in how to tell a complex story effectively in a short space.

However, apart from the garden, there are other secrets to be revealed at Misselthwaite Manor such as the strange cries in the night and the identity of Colin, a disabled boy, whom she discovers in the hidden bedroom.The Secret Garden is arguably Frances Hodgson Burnett’s most famous work. In doing so, Mary finds a purpose and an excitement in her lonely existence. She sets her mind to bringing it back to life. In exploring the grounds Mary finds the key to the locked garden which is neglected and overrun with weeds. But now the scene is set for her transformation and the introduction of the author's engaging theme of rejuvenation and renewal. She dislikes her new home and the people living in it. Initially Mary is seen as a rude, aggressive and selfish child. Mary Lennox, a sickly ten year old girl, adrift in the world after both her mother and father die is sent to Yorkshire to live with an uncle whom she has never met, at his isolated house, Misselthwaite Manor. It is regarded as one of the best children's books written in the twentieth century. Frances Burnett Hodgson's novel The Secret Garden is both intriguing and uplifting.

The secret garden by frances hodgson burnett