The Secret Garden (HarperClassics)

There’s a reason this book is a classic, and always will be. The story is both heartbreaking and uplifting. In the end it’s about Hope love and courage.

You know you've got a good book on your hands when you read it in great heaping helpings until you feel woozy and sick, and you still want more. I sat down to read this book and suddenly had chewed up almost a hundred pages and felt quite spin-headed, and later that day I read fifty more pages because I just couldn't get enough. *That* is a good book, my friends. The story concerns one Mary Lennox, a ten-year-old British girl who grows up in India and loses her parents to a cholera epidemic. She is shipped off to England to live with her uncle, whose wife died ten years ago. The wife had an accident and died, and the uncle is still broken-hearted and has retreated from the world. Mary, a contrary and difficult child, slowly comes to life in her new surroundings and makes friends among the servants and their families and with the uncle's own son, a sickly boy named Colin. Colin has all but given up the will to live, and it falls to Mary to wean him off his pessimism and bring him back to life, which process takes up the bulk of the book. The writing style of this book is fluid and graceful, its vocabulary sophisticated without being difficult. It is an engrossing story about a little girl with some room for improvement, who slowly learns to embrace life and improves for doing so. I have met people who didn't like Mary that much, but I enjoyed her company throughout the book and found it hard to let her go at the end. Her friends are likewise engaging; *all* the central characters are well realized and lively, and the dialogue flows by naturally and reveals the characters well. Though this book was first published over a hundred years ago it reads easily to the modern ear, and there is much here for modern readers to enjoy.

Beautiful book to give to my granddaughter. My favorite book and her mother’s as well!

The story starts with Mary Lennox. Miss Lennox, a small thin girl with a thin face and a little thin body, her hair also thin and colorless along with her sour expression-you could easily see her personality described quite easily on her face. She lives in India. Her father being a high official under the English Government, her mother being a beautiful lady who only cared to go to parties and did not want to have a child in the first place both discarded Mary vigorously. Put under the care of an Ayah she turns into a selfish, disagreeable little girl that nobody seems to take any notice of. One day a terrible disease falls across the house and with both her parents dead aswell as half of the servants, the rest flee in fright and leave Mary quite forgotten in her small nursery until two officers find her. She is taken to England and is told to live with Mr. Archibald Craven, a hunchback who's wife's brother was Mary's father. Slowly, as she lives in such a deary and quiet house she gets to know Mr. Craven and for the first time learns how to trust and love and care for people. She lets Mr. Craven open up a little more and in return she learns to open her heart. She also meets Dickon-the boy who seems to talk to animals. She ponders the boy's ways as they are so different to hers. So much brighter and more lively Dickon is always full of warmth and enthusiasm. Together they find The Secret Garden which belonged to Mr. Craven's dead wife and build it back to life. Although the process is slow one day she discovers the whimpers that come somewhere far deep into the house at night and meets with Mr. Craven's son-Colin. Colin being just as disagreeable a child and self absorbed as Mary herself, although at first they fight a great deal and do not start off with a good start, they end up helping each other. The book is a worthwhile read and a beautiful story.

This book is a fine example of mindset and how it affects you. This tale of overcoming told through the lens of a child and simple people will enthrall you and give you hope.

Beautiful edition, very high quality. Some of the moving pieces are a little fragile so handle carefully.

This book is a classic. Purchased for a avid reader! Wish the book jacket was a little better illustrated.

The physical copy I ordered has been sent to a loved one. I maintain an old copy at home and just finished rereading this tale on Kindle, as my situation allows. It had been almost 4 decades since I ventured forth with Miss Mary onto the grounds discovering life in all its glory and more than one secret along the way. What an adventure it has been once again. Only this time, a bit more seasoned, I made a discovery I had not made when younger. The truth of the secret garden. What it truly is, where to find it, and then what to do with it. These are the real secrets hidden within this gem of a novel and timeless tale. Told in a way that can appeal to every age. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

Doskonałe wydanie.

Es una edición preciosa y de calidad. La encuadernación es una maravilla, las páginas son gruesas y el formato hace que sea muy cómodo de leer. Las ilustraciones, aunque algo escasas para mi gusto, son una delicia. La historia me ha parecido algo aburrida y lenta al principio pero al final ha resultado ser muy bonita. Además, usa un lenguaje bastante sencillo por lo que es fácil de comprender con un nivel intermedio de inglés. Solo hay algunas partes en las que usan algo así como un dialecto y al principio es algo complicado, pero se va entendiendo más a medida que avanza el libro.

Parfait. Livre en excellent état et envoi rapide

القصه تختلف قليلا عن النسخه المدرسية

I don't often write reviews for books but I had to for this one. I loved this story and the movie when I was a child and wanted it to captivate the imagination of my daughter in just the same way. Unfortunately, like many of the classics, the language is now very outdated and stilted and hard to read or understand for children nowadays. This collection of classic stories that Miles Kelly has revamped is absolutely wonderful! We started with The Wizard of Oz and are now half way through The Secret Garden. My seven year old daughter is enchanted by it. Both of us really look forward to our bedtime reading session now. The illustrations are plentiful and beautiful. Each page is bordered with ivy vines and roses, giving it the feeling of real quality and luxury. The chapters are perfectly sized (we read two or three a night but if the child is reading it alone, than one would be perfect). And the story itself has not been altered, but the wording makes it much more up to date whilst still retaining the air of a good classic. Absolutely love the Yorkshire accents bit. My Nan is a Yorkshire lass and I can see her so well in my mind's eye whilst reading Martha's dialogue. Magical. A must have for any literature loving family!