When I sat down to think about the book that I had the chance to grow up with,the title " The Secret Garden" automatically popped into my head. I remember having it read to me by my parents before going to bed, as well as it being the first book that I have read on my own a couple of times during my summer vacation. This book was written by Frances Hodgson Burnett and was entirely published in 1911. What makes this book unique is that today it is considered to be a children's novel, but in the year 1911 it was aimed mainly at adults. Just like the title speaks for itself, the garden is the book's main symbol. The main character is a girl by the name of Mary Lennox who lived with her parents in India until they died in an earthquake. Unfortunately, Mary had to move back to England to live with her rich uncle whose wife died 10 years before. What is more, the uncle lived in a beautiful castle but was hardly around the house as he missed his deceased wife too much and was ashamed of his handicapped son. Mary was very lonely in this great manor, but soon found a way to fight her boredom. First, she discovered a beautiful but locked up garden that used to be her deceased aunt's paradise. Another thing that she discovered was the existence of her cousin, Colin who was handicapped and instructed to stay in bed all the time and to stay out of the sunshine. Mary felt very bad for her beloved cousin and decided to change his life for the better. With the help of a local boy named Dickon, Mary turned the garden into paradise again. It was in this garden that Colin learned how to walk and where Colin's father saw his son walk and accepted him for the first time.
