9 h 15 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 15 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 227 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 227 pagesAbout this book
What if a locked garden holds the first thing a lonely child truly wants to care for?
Mary Lennox arrives from India at her uncle’s huge house in Yorkshire with a sour temper and no one to love. In Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, the lonely ten-year-old finds a mystery beyond the house: a walled garden that has been locked for ten years.
With help from Dickon Sowerby, a cheerful boy who knows plants and wild creatures, Mary begins to tend the neglected ground. Her cousin Colin Craven lives shut away in his room, frightened of the world. As friendship takes root, the story asks what care can awaken in children who have known too little of it.
What you’ll discover
- A garden worth tending Follow Mary’s curiosity toward small green shoots, stubborn weeds, and a reason to care.
- Friends who speak plainly Meet Martha and Dickon, whose honesty and warmth challenge Mary’s lonely habits.
- Secrets behind closed doors Explore a great Yorkshire house where distant crying draws Mary down the corridor.
- Nature close at hand Find a robin, wild creatures, and fresh air woven into the children’s changing lives.
- Care that helps things grow Discover a gentle story that connects tending a garden with tending wounded feelings.
Who will love it
For readers who love gentle stories about children, gardens, animals and the English countryside, and parents who enjoy reading aloud. A tale for anyone drawn to friendship, healing and the power of nature.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A child nobody wanted grows up sour
- A great house with a secret in it
- Martha and the moor wake Mary up
- A robin shows her the key
- Dickon helps her bring the garden back
- A cry in the night leads down the corridor
- Colin, the boy who is waiting to die
- What the story says about healing and care
- How Burnett tells the tale and what to watch
Who’s who
- Mary LennoxA lonely, sour ten year old, raised without love in India and sent to Yorkshire, who finds a hidden garden and a reason to care.
- Colin CravenMary's cousin, a spoiled and frightened boy kept in his room, who believes he is dying and rules the household with his tempers.
- Dickon SowerbyMartha's twelve year old brother, a cheerful moor boy who knows plants and wild creatures and helps Mary with the garden.
- Martha SowerbyThe plain speaking young housemaid who treats Mary honestly, tells her about the moor and her family, and starts her change.
- Archibald CravenMary's uncle and Colin's father, a sad, withdrawn man who locked the garden after his wife died and travels away from his grief.
- Ben WeatherstaffThe old, crusty gardener at Misselthwaite, who is blunt with Mary and is the friend of a robin.
- Mrs. MedlockThe stern housekeeper who brings Mary to Yorkshire and tries to keep the secrets of the house in order.
- Susan SowerbyThe warm and sensible mother of Martha and Dickon, who raises many children on little money and has quiet wisdom.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 9 h 15 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in, 227 pages: 9,95 USD when you start free, 16,95 USD on its own.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in, 227 pages: 16,95 USD when you start free, 23,95 USD on its own.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett · 1911
A lonely girl finds a garden locked for ten years, and a reason to care in a house full of secrets.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Secret Garden is a novel for young readers by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was published in 1911, after a run in a magazine, when the author was in her sixties and had a garden of her own.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A child nobody wanted grows up sour
The story opens in India, where Mary Lennox is born to a beautiful, pleasure loving mother and a father who works for the British government. Neither parent has any time for her. Servants look after her, and her ayah, her nurse, gives in to every wish so that the child will not cry and trouble her mother. As a result Mary grows up thin, yellowish, and bad tempered.
Burnett is plain about what this does to her. Mary is used to giving orders and being obeyed at once. She slaps her servants and screams at them when she is crossed. She has never played with other children, and she has never been asked to do anything for herself, not even to dress herself.
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What is The Secret Garden about?
It is about Mary Lennox, a lonely orphan sent from India to live in a big Yorkshire house. She discovers a locked garden and, with new friends, slowly changes. The book is about care, nature and friendship.
When was The Secret Garden written?
Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel was published as a book in 1911, after it appeared in installments in a magazine. It is a work of fiction and not a true story, though Burnett loved gardens herself.
Who are Dickon, Colin and Martha in The Secret Garden?
Martha is the cheerful housemaid who befriends Mary. Dickon is her brother, a boy who is at home with animals and plants. Colin is Mary's sickly cousin, hidden in a bedroom of the manor.
The author
Frances Hodgson Burnett
1849–1924 · English-American novelist and playwright
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was a novelist and playwright born in Manchester, England. She moved to the United States in 1865 and later lived in England and New York. Her books include Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911). She died in New York.
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