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| Author | Frances Hodgson Burnett |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Troy Howell |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Children's Classics |
| Publication date | 1909 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 234 |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published in 1909. Its working title was Mistress Mary, in reference to the English nursery rhyme Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. It is one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is now considered a classic of children's literature.
Plot summary
mary mary heheeh
Major themes
Secret Garden was Mrs. Burnett's rose garden at Great Maytham Hall, Kent.
Film, TV, or theatrical adaptations
The Secret Garden has been adapted many times for stage and screen. The first filmed version was made in 1919 by the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation with 17 year old Lila Lee as Mary, but it is considered lost. In 1949, MGM filmed the second adaptation with Margaret O'Brien. This version was mostly in black-and-white, but the sequences set in the restored garden were filmed in Technicolor. It was also adapted by Dorothea Brooking into a six-part BBC television serial in 1959 starring Colin Spaull as Dickon. Brooking was also responsible for adaptations in 1952 and 1975, also for the BBC. In 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame filmed a TV adaptation of the novel starring Gennie James as Mary, Barret Oliver as Dickon, and Jadrien Steele as Colin. A young Colin Firth also made a brief appearance as an adult version of Colin Craven.
One notable stage adaptation is a musical with music by Lucy Simon and book and lyrics by Marsha Norman, which opened on Broadway in 1991. The production was nominated for seven Tony Awards, winning Best Book of a Musical and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Daisy Eagan as Mary, at eleven years old is the youngest person ever to win a Tony).
The most acclaimed film adaptation was American Zoetrope's 1993 production. It was directed by Agnieszka Holland and starred Kate Maberly as Mary, Heydon Prowse as Colin, Andrew Knott as Dickon and Dame Maggie Smith as Mrs. Medlock. A 2000 sequel entitled Return to the Secret Garden was directed by Scott Featherstone and won the Director's Gold Award at the 2001 Santa Clarita International Film Festival.
In 2001, Back to the Secret Garden with Camilla Belle as an American orphan, Lizzie, was directed by Michael Tuchner, set in a time when Mary and Colin have married and turned the Craven Manor into a shelter for orphans.
In 1991, a Japanese animated version of The Secret Garden was made, entitled Himitsu no Hanazono. Another anime movie, Sōkō no Strain (2006), based on another Frances Hodgson Burnett novel, A Little Princess, draws some elements from The Secret Garden, mostly the names of Colin, Mary, Martha and Dickon.
Noel Streatfield's novel The Painted Garden (U.S. title Movie Shoes) has as its central story the filming of The Secret Garden in Hollywood.
An unofficial novel about the adult lives of Mary, Colin, and Dickon was written by Susan Moody in 1995 and published under two different titles: Misselthwaite: The Sequel to the Secret Garden and Return to the Secret Garden. The New York Times also published a brief parodic sequel in the same year.
References
- Return to the Secret Garden at IMDb
- "Santa Clarita International Film Festival: 2001". Retrieved 2008-07-05.
- Back to the Secret Garden at IMDb
- Himitsu no Hanazono at IMDb
- Souko no Strain at IMDb
- Second Spring in the Secret Garden
External links
- The Secret Garden at Project Gutenberg (plain text and HTML illustrated).
- The Secret Garden, available at Internet Archive. New York : F. A. Stokes, 1911 (color scanned book).
- The Secret Garden, available at Librivox (audiobook).
- The Secret Garden (PDF, PDB and LIT formats).