The secret garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

When orphaned Mary Lennox comes to live at her uncle’s great house on the Yorkshire Moors, she finds it full of secrets. The mansion has nearly one hundred rooms, and her uncle keeps himself locked up. And at night, she hears the sound of crying down one of the long corridors.
The gardens surrounding the large property are Mary’s only escape. Then, Mary discovers a secret garden, surrounded by walls and locked with a missing key. One day, with the help of two unexpected companions, she discovers a way in. Is everything in the garden dead, or can Mary bring it back to life?
(from Goodreads)

Thinking about it now, this book matches the mood of quarantine as well¹. Mary is taken to her uncle because her parents died of cholera, and she was left all by herself after their servants flee their home (those first parts were a bit hard to read, honestly, not only because of the abandonment of Mary, even when her parents were alive and well, but also because of the whole colonialist background going on, that is extended throughout the book with her memories). And then, once in the mansion, she never leaves AT ALL. She goes from the mansion to the garden, and vice-versa, but the lockdown is real. It is said that she would eventually visit Martha and Dickon’s house, but that never happens on-page. But, honestly, if I lived in a house of a hundred rooms, which also happened to have a secret garden (annexed to the non-secret garden), I wouldn’t care much for the outer world either. Particularly if one of your friends just happens to be an animal enchanter and brings you all kinds of cute creatures to you.
Overall, I liked this book, it was cute and entertaining and it was nice to get into it after working many hours in front of a computer. Although I wish it hadn’t turned so Colin-centric by the end, because I had really enjoyed Mary’s growth throughout the book and her relationship with Martha, who also faded towards the end.

¹ I read the book in April, and wrote this in May

 

Little Lord Fauntleroy, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Cedric Errol is a generous, kind, and exemplary middle-class American boy who is suddenly found to be the heir of the Earl of Dorincourt. Saying loving goodbyes to his working-class friends, Cedric goes to England together with his mother to embrace his new fortune. His grandfather, the old earl, is a bitter old man ridden with gout and a foul temper, trusting no one. However the angelic boy elicits a profound transformation in the grandfather, which not only benefits the castle household but the whole populace of the earldom.

If only the old man’s heart would soften toward Cedric’s estranged mother, the family would be healed at last. And when another potential heir to the earldom makes a claim, it seems that everything is lost….

But all things are possible through a child’s innocent trust, true friendship, and unconditional love. (from Goodreads)

I wanted to read this book since I was a kid, probably after reading A Little Princes. A while ago a penpal reminded me of its existence and next time I saw it in a bookstore, I bought it.

There’s not much to say about it that GR’s synopsis hasn’t. I would have enjoyed it better if I read this when I was 10. Reading it at 26 was probably not the best idea, because I found it filled of common places and every problem that was presented to this little guy had such a predictable solution that even certain “plot-twist” was obvious. But is a nice book for young kids beginning to read, I guess