Kerri's Reviews > The Secret Garden

One of my most cherished books. 💖

Somewhere around the age of seven or eight I came across a beautiful book in my local library that contained both The Secret Garden and A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I instantly latched onto it and completely fell in love with the two stories. Over the years I checked that book out again and again, and eventually got my own copies.

There is something about The Secret Garden that is so hard to capture in a review. From that first reading, and for every single reread over the years, it has been the perfect book. Everything about it works for me - the characters are among my favourite ever created, especially Dickon, who is so perfect in such a beautifully real way. Both Mary and Colin are in many ways unlikable characters, especially earlier on, yet I still adore them.
They behave appallingly, but they have also been starved of attention, love and discipline. Their journey over the course of the book, and the way they help each other evolve into better people is so wonderful to follow.

And the garden - that magical garden. It always completely sparked my imagination, and something I really noticed during this read was how poignant the descriptions of magic are in this book - the magic of nature and friendship and the way thoughts can have such an impact on us. It could easily sound preachy I suppose, but somehow it doesn't, at least not to me.

I undoubtedly approach this book with an almost overwhelming sense of nostalgia, and am already so firmly in love with it that I cannot really do anything other than admire it. It's a magical book with a magical garden!
🌱🌸🌹🍀🍁🍂🍃🌺🌻🌼🌞🌳🌲🌿
🐣🐦🐑🐎🐾🐝🐜
🔑 (Picture the key more old fashioned and romantic as it fits the story better! And the birds were robins and a crow-- I am limited in my options!😁)💟