Saturday, July 21, 2018

16/ The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, was my favorite childhood book (not counting the 48 or so Nancy Drew books). I don't know if I read it more than once, but I know I carried it around in my head for a long time.

I grew up in the city, but I heard a lot about gardens from my mom, who had grown up in the country and longed to be growing things again. Our apartment had some lovely houseplants. Before I was born, my parents created roof gardens above their apartments in Greenwich Village.

The Secret Garden isn't a gardening manual, of course, but "garden" was almost a sacred word in my vocabulary, and a secret, of course, was appealing. Judging by how often magazine covers use the word "secrets," I'd say it still is.



My mom in one of their roof gardens.

7 comments:

  1. This is one I skipped as a child but read aloud to my daughters. Loved this book.

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  2. Oh, I loved this book. Read it multiple times. Love the idea of the secret garden (and this photo of your mom).

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  3. I read it when I was slightly older, I think. I have never thought about the magic qualities of a garden for a little girl brought up in apartments in a big city though. How wonderful.

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  4. I really like the photo of your mom too. And how resourceful of your parents to make a roof garden (did it do double duty as a beer/martini garden)?

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  5. Love gardens, secret or not, but am a very lazy gardener! Could get into the idea of a martini garden however. The deer might leave it alone!

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  6. I have a copy that was passed down to me from my grandfather's mother. I read it when I was a young teen, maybe 14. I have read it several times since.

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