The Secret Garden

"The Secret Garden (1911) by Francis Hodgson Burnett. I read this book when I was about 10 or 11. I love the idea of a secret place – of having a key to a place where nobody else can go. Of all the books that have had an impact on my consciousness, this has had the biggest — although I didn’t realise it at the time. When I first read it, I read it on a superficial level – a recently orphaned girl is sent to stay with distant relatives, there is a mystery, there is a cool kid who knows about gardening and there is a sick kid. But it has stayed in my head in a way that other books haven’t. The redemptive power of the natural world and gardening was something that struck a chord with me, because it was absent from my life – I didn’t garden. “All the books I’ve chosen have steered me – formed me, created me. They made me see beauty and wonder where I hadn’t before.” The idea that wondering at and communing with the natural world has a positive effect on your physical and mental health is powerfully expressed in this story. Even though I didn’t understand it this way when I read it, it had a meaningful impact on me. So much so that later in life, when I did get into gardening in my 20s, I re-read it. I like that it doesn’t assume any gardening knowledge on the part of the reader. I took a look at my copy this morning and I landed on the passage where Colin and Mary are talking about the secret garden. She is pleading with him to keep it a secret and trying to explain why it is wonderful, describing an English spring, which is new to her as she grew up in India. Of course, there are problematic elements of the story, colonial points of view which have no place in today’s society – but, ultimately, this book is about two children who have no connection with the natural world finding it for themselves – and it benefitting their lives. “The idea that wondering at and communing with the natural world has a positive effect on your physical and mental health is powerfully expressed in this story.” When I got into gardening, I felt like Mary. I had issues with anxiety and depression, and I discovered that going into the garden, hearing the humming of the insects and digging in the flower beds, makes me happy. It puts being alive into a context with all other living things – we are all food for worms and if you are a keen gardener you are pretty much going to be ok with that. If I hadn’t read this book when I was young, I might not have felt that it was ok to go and get my fingers dirty later on in life. When I was a teenager, I didn’t like the countryside. I thought it was green, wet and uninteresting. I can sympathise with my children when I drag them outside and they grumble. But now I know enough about plants and insect to be able to find and make them interesting. Yes, and I believe it is important for our mental health. I’m no expert, but children today are more removed from the natural world than ever before, and developing that relationship, for me, has been a positive, healthy experience. All of the books I’ve chosen I love and, I think, foster a wonder of the natural world, express powerful truths, and are set now, or in recent times."

"I didn’t need to re-read this book, as I remember so much about it. I must have read it countless times in my life. It had an enormous effect on me growing up. It made me realize how important to have the natural world is for every child. In fact, now we have an autistic grandson and he responds so positively to being in the countryside with us. In the city, he finds everything difficult to cope with, and it makes him unhappy. When he comes to Devon, he can go out and just wander round, and not be stopped going through gateways and such. He just calms down completely. It is a very, very healing place for him. I must have recognised something in the book that I really responded to—something about the healing quality of nature, the changing seasons, growth, and constant renewal. These are huge symbols of life for everybody, which is probably why so many people love gardening. I grew up with a garden that my mother absolutely adored tending, so I could really relate to the book and subject of the book. It’s an optimistic story with a sweet ending. I think it’s a lot of people’s favourite book. Certainly, it is mine. This and Black Beauty , which I haven’t chosen here, but is also a book I could talk forever about."