Audiobook · read by volunteers
Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924)
Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023) · 27 chapters · 9 h 08
About the book
Mary Lennox has never been loved, and it shows. When she is orphaned in India and sent to live at her uncle’s great, silent house on the Yorkshire moors, she is a sour, spoiled and rather lonely child. But the house has secrets: a locked garden, a cry in the night, a boy who talks to animals. With the help of a robin and the bracing moorland air, Mary begins, slowly, to change.
Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic is a story of friendship and the healing power of fresh air, of tending growing things and of finding out how much you can do when you stop feeling sorry for yourself. It is told simply, with warmth and a good deal of humour, and it holds up beautifully for listeners of any age. In twenty-seven chapters and about nine hours, it makes a gentle, absorbing companion for a family evening.
Introduction
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was born in England and spent much of her life in the United States. She wrote many novels and plays for adults, but she is now remembered mainly for her stories for children, among them Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden. The Secret Garden appeared in book form in 1911, after serialisation in a magazine, and quickly became a favourite, and it has remained in print ever since.
The story begins in India and moves to a large country house in Yorkshire. Burnett uses the setting well. The moors, the weather and the walled garden are almost characters in their own right, and the Yorkshire dialect spoken by some of the characters gives the book a distinct voice. The novel is also notable for its interest in health and mood: the idea that fresh air, activity and the company of others can lift a person out of misery was a lively topic at the time, and the book treats it with conviction.
The recording is made up of 27 chapters and runs for about nine hours. It is read by volunteers for LibriVox, who bring the dialogue to life in a range of accents. A version in several voices has a particular charm here, since the book is full of conversations between very different people.
Why listen today? The Secret Garden is a rare children’s book that treats a child’s inner life seriously. It does not hurry, it does not preach too loudly, and it still manages to be moving. Adults who remember it from their own childhood may be surprised by how much they had forgotten, and by how well it wears.
Public domain
Frances Hodgson Burnett died in 1924: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text