The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

This book is lovely.  Just lovely.

I realize that it is a classic meant to be read as a prepubescent child, but I missed the boat!  It was one of those books that was never assigned to me in school and therefore that I never picked up and read when I was meant to.

However, I must say that it was incredibly enjoyable to read as an adult.

It’s a story of a little girl Mary, spoiled and sour, who is transferred from her home and family in India when her parents dies from cholera to her Uncle’s Manor in England.  Her Uncle is deeply depressed by the death of his wife 10 years earlier, and the ailments of his spoiled and sour son.

Mary is left to herself in her new surroundings and blossoms into a bright, beautiful, tender and loving young girl as she discovers and nurtures back to life a secret garden.  This garden holds the “magic” necessary to inject life back into her, her Uncle and his “crippled” son.

Wonderful metaphor of a garden being brought back to life by tenderness, care, attention and love, as it brings life back to those who tend it.

Definitely not just for children!