The Secret Garden Review

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden (4.25/5 stars) is one of those timeless classics that manages to feel both magical and deeply human no matter when you return to it. I first read this book when I was around 11 or 12, and it held a special place in my heart even then. After reading Weyward last year—where The Secret Garden is referenced several times—I felt inspired to revisit it, and I’m so glad I did.

Reading it again as an adult brought a whole new level of appreciation for the story. The transformation of Mary Lennox, from a sullen, isolated child into someone vibrant, curious, and full of empathy, is quietly profound. Her growth mirrors the garden itself—neglected and closed off at first, but slowly brought to life with patience, care, and connection.

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s writing is gentle and elegant, rich with descriptions of nature, renewal, and emotional healing. The moors, the manor, the locked garden—they all feel like living characters in the story. Colin and Dickon, in their own ways, offer further layers of the novel’s themes: the power of belief, friendship, and the unspoken magic of the natural world.

Several lines stayed with me and beautifully capture the spirit of the book:

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”

“Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow.”

“Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing.”

What struck me most this time was how subtle yet powerful the story’s message is: that healing—whether physical, emotional, or spiritual—often begins in quiet, unnoticed ways, and that nature has a way of nurturing the soul if we let it.

While some parts feel a bit dated or idealized by today’s standards, the heart of the story remains timeless. It’s a book I’ll always consider one of my favorite literary classics, and rereading it through the lens of experience only deepened my love for it.