The Secret Garden appeals to both young and old alike. The kindly servants ignore her queries or pretend they haven't heard, spiking Mary's curiosity. The mystery deepens when she hears sounds of sobbing from somewhere within her uncle's vast mansion. Once when he's away from home, Mary discovers a charming walled garden which is always kept locked. However, her nature undergoes a gradual transformation when she learns of the tragedies that have befallen her strict and disciplinarian uncle whom she earlier feared and despised. When she arrives, she is a rude, stubborn and given to stormy temper tantrums. She travels to his home, Misselthwaite Manor located in the gloomy Yorkshire, a vast change from the sunny and warm climate she was used to. Mary is given to the care of her uncle Archibald Craven, whom she has never met. However, her memories of her parents are not pleasant, as they were a selfish, neglectful and pleasure-seeking couple.

The plot centers round Mary Lennox, a young English girl who returns to England from India, having suffered the immense trauma by losing both her parents in a cholera epidemic. Initially published as a serial story in 1910 in The American Magazine, it was brought out in novel form in 1911. One of the most delightful and enduring classics of children's literature, The Secret Garden by Victorian author Frances Hodgson Burnett has remained a firm favorite with children the world over ever since it made its first appearance.

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