The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published in 1911. Its working title was Mistress Mary, in reference to the English nursery rhyme Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. It is one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is now considered a classic of children's literature.



The author, Frances Hodgson Burnett, was a practitioner of Christian Science due to the premature death of her son as well as personal illness. As a result, The Secret Garden espouses the concepts of New Thought and theosophy as well as ideas about the healing powers of the mind.

The garden is the book's central symbol. The secret garden at Misselthwaite Manner is the site of both the near destruction and the subsequent regeneration of a family Using the garden motif, Burnett explores the healing power inherent in living things.



The Secret Garden first appeared to the public in serial format aimed at adults in 1910, one year prior to its release in book format. Marketing to both adult and juvenile audiences may have had an effect on its early reception; the book was not as celebrated as Burnett's previous works during her lifetime.

The Secret Garden paled in comparison to the popularity of Burnett's other works for a long period of time. Tracing the book's revival from almost complete eclipse at the time of Burnett's death in 1924, Anne H. Lundin noted that the author's obituary notices all remarked on Little Lord Fauntleroy and passed over The Secret Garden in silence.

With the rise of scholarly work in children's literature over the past quarter century, The Secret Garden has steadily risen to prominence, and is now arguably Burnett's best known work. The book is often noted as one of the best children's books of the twentieth century.