The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911)
“A sour, neglected child finds a locked garden — and in tending it back to life, discovers she can do the same for herself.”
EraEdwardian / Late Victorian
Pages331
Difficulty★☆☆☆☆ Accessible
AP Appearances2
Character Analysis
Introduced as the most disagreeable child in fiction; ends as someone capable of sustained care and genuine friendship. Burnett never makes Mary fully soft — her transformation is toward directness and openness, not sweetness. She remains willful; she simply acquires a will that reaches outward rather than inward. The key to the garden is hers, and the novel never lets us forget it.
How They Speak
Opens with colonial authority ('the most disagreeable child') — imperious, abbreviated commands. Shifts toward curiosity and directness as the novel progresses.