THE SECRET GARDEN

THE SECRET GARDEN

This book speaks about the story of Mary Lennox. She was born in India, she lived there because her father worked for the British Government. Her parents didn't want a child and they never spent much time with her, because her father was always busy and her mother preferred going to parties. She had an Ayah who looked after her and she could do what she wanted because her parents never wanted to hear her crying.

One day, when she was nine years old, cholera had broken out and everyone, lived in her house, was dying except her because she was alone in her nursery. The next day, some men  found her and they told her that her parents and her Ayah with many other people were died.

She went to England, in Yorkshire where lived her uncle, Mr Arcibald Craven, that she didn't know. During the voyage to England she was with an officer's wife, then, when she arrived there, there was a woman to meet her. She was Mrs Medlock, the housekeeper at Misselthwaite Manor, the home of her uncle. They went by train and they travelled all the day. During the travel Mrs Medlock described her the moor, the house and that she could and could not doing. Her uncle was married but his wife was died ten years before. He was away most of the time and when he was at home he stayed in the west wing.

When they arrived at the station, they found a horse and carriage was waiting for them. 

When they arrived all was in darkness except a room of the house where there was a light.

At the morning when she got up, she found near her bed a young girl: she was Martha, Mrs Medlock's maid. After some days they became friends but it was very strange for Mary because she wasn't used to servants talking so easily to their masters. Mary learned many things from Martha about the moor and in particular about the house's gardens. She went out every day and she was attracted form that world. Martha a day spoke her about a secret garden that Mr Craven shut up ten years before because it was his wife's garden and they spent many hours in it  together and she died there because she was sitting under a tree and a branch broke.

During the next days Mary continued exploring in the garden. She was determined to find the door to the secret garden, also if the Gardener said that it there wasn't. The walls were covered in ts and it was difficult to walk all around it.

One morning she and the robin, a little bird friend of her, found a key. The key to a door. After that they found a knob of a door. She began to pull away the leaves until she had uncovered an old green door. She entered into the secret garden, it was fantastic with its roses also if it was closed from ten years. The next morning she told Martha all about the garden. But the next day it was raining and Mary could not go out, so she decided to explore the house, after some time she heard someone crying, she opened a door and she found a boy that was lying in his bed and was crying. They knew oneself. He was Mr Craven's son, but his father never was with him because he was very ill and he was going to die. He was always alone, so Mary began to go to see him every day and they became good friends.

After some days the sun shined again and Mary could go out. When she arrived at the garden everything looked different, all was coming to live. Into the garden there was a boy, Dickon, he was Martha's brother and he wanted to help Mary because he knew many things about gardening.

All through the spring Mary and Dickon spent most days working in the garden. They became good friends. And when she wasn't in the garden she spent most of her time with Colin and she persuaded him to get out of bed and sit in an armchair by the window.

One afternoon Mr Craven wanted to see Mary, she was very restless. They spoke about her life in the house and about the garden, then he said her goodbye because he will be went away for the summer.

During the summer Mary spent more time in the garden because the days were longer and always less with Colin. He wasn't at all happy of this and an evening when Mary went to visit him, he did a tantrum, Mary was furious: Colin said that he could not go out because he'll die, but she answered that he only wanted to be ill and that he could go out with her. They were screaming so Colin's nurse came running. Mary watching his back didn't see any lump. So Colin began to cry desperately because till that moment he always though to must die.

So the next day the servants took Colin into the park, they left them alone and Colin could enter into the secret garden. He and Dickon became friends and he went out in the garden every day in his wheelchair.

And when Mr Craven returned from his travels he found many changes at Misselthwaite Manor. Changes that were to make his life happier, too.