The Secret Garden Paperback - 1999

Name: The Secret Garden (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics S.)
Price: 1.66 GBP
Availability: InStock
Author: Burnett, Frances
ISBN: 9780141182186

by Burnett, Frances Hodgson

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About this book

The Secret Garden, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, has remained one of the most popular children’s books since its publication in The American Magazine in 1910. The story tells of childhood emotions and experiences while keeping the central theme - if something is cared for, it will thrive.

The Secret Garden introduces us to a sour little girl, Mary Lennox, who is NOT a pleasure to be around. In fact, she yells like a little princess, can't make friends, and simply despises everything.

She remains quite contrary until she helps her garden grow - and finds someone worse off than herself to bring along for the ride.

Burnett was a British American novelist and playwright, best known for her novels Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess, and The Secret Garden. She regularly found inspiration through her observations of nature and the walled gardens at Maytham Hall in Kent England.

The American Magazine published the first edition of The Secret Garden in 1910

Summary

Frightened orphan Mary discovers the joyful wonders of life on the Yorkshire Moors with the help of two local boys and a mysterious, abandoned garden...where all things seem possible.

From the publisher

The classic story of orphaned Mary who has been sent to stay at her uncle's manor house in Yorkshire, following the death of her parents from cholera. Mary is spoilt and sickly, but her life changes for the better when she discovers the secret walled garden in the grounds of the house.

First Edition Identification

The book was first published by Heinemann in London in 1911 with illustrations by Charles Heath Robinson as a British edition. The first American edition was published by Fredrick A Stokes and Company with illustration by Maria Louise Kirk.

The original British edition features green cloth with gilt titles & decoration to the upperboard and spine. This can be identified by a publication date on the front panel.

The First American released two editions simultaneously, one featuring the publisher’s green cloth with illustration only on the upper board and gilt lettering to the spine. The other in blue cloth without illustrations.

Details

Title The Secret Garden
Author Burnett, Frances Hodgson
Binding Paperback
Edition New edition
Pages 288
Language EN
Publisher Penguin Classics
Date 1999-08-01
ISBN 9780141182186

About the author

Frances Hodgson Burnett lived from 1849 to 1924. She was born in Manchester and lived in great poverty after the death of her father in 1853. She escaped the horror of her surroundings by writing stories and often returned to a rags-to-riches or a riches-to-rags theme. In 1865 her family accepted a relative's invitation to emigrate to America. They were still poor but the wide open spaces of Tennesssee were better than the slums of Manchester. Frances had to earn money so began writing short pieces for American magazines. In 1873 she married Dr Swan Burnett, and it was under her married name that she became a world-famous children's writer.

Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote over forty books; the two that are best-known today are The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy. In later life she became rather eccentric, turned to spiritualism and mystic cults and took to wearing frilly clothes and titian-coloured wigs - this earned her the nickname 'Fluffy'.