All right; it’s really called The Secret Garden – but I can’t think of this book without a sense of magic, as though anything can happen.  It was one of my favorite books when I was younger.  I also loved Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess, by the same author.

I decided this had to be my Book of the Week in honor of Plans for today – I’m going to watch a performance of the story.  I believe it’s even a musical – though, that could be a figmentation of my imagination….

After learning of these Plans (and agreeing to them), I decided that it just wouldn’t be right to watch a play of a book without rereading the book.  And so, a few days ago, I checked a copy out from the Local Library and read it.  It was just as good as I remembered it.

Mary Lennox, a spoiled girl raised in India (her wealthy parents are British), has to leave India when her parents die in a cholera epidemic.  Passed off to a distant uncle (the husband of her late father’s sister), she soon learns of a mysterious garden.  The door to this garden is locked, the key buried – it hasn’t been opened for ten years.  As Mary learns to be less Contrary, she becomes obsessed with this garden – finding the key, opening the door, and learning garden-work.

Of course, the Secret Garden isn’t the only mystery she comes up against….  If you haven’t read this book and met Mary, Colin, and Dickon (and, of course, Martha and Mrs. Sowerby) for yourself, then I’m very sorry for you.  You’re missing out on a brilliant story.