Review: The Secret Garden (narrated by Glenda Jackson)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Secret Garden has long been one of my favorite childhood stories because of its valuable message- that you have to cultivate happiness. Mary is a child who has been orphaned after an outbreak of cholera in India, where she was living with her parents. She is sent home to England, to Misselthwaite Manor, the home of her uncle, a very lonely and unhappy widower. She is a dour, lonely, and unhappy child who makes her first friend in an English robin. Her second friend is a boy named Dickon, who helps her connect with nature even more, and together they restore the Secret Garden of the title, eventually with the help of Mary's initially wretched cousin Colin, a boy who also learns to cultivate happiness, friendship, courage, and health.

The Yorkshire dialect English in the novel, which was written in a serialized form in the late Edwardian era, may be difficult for some modern children, and so the audiobook edition of the story may help children understand the dialect more easily.

This audiobook is narrated marvelously by Glenda Jackson (I think it may have originally been recorded in 1994?) however the audiobook is the abridged version of the novel. Additionally, the presence of music with an awkward dynamic range that competes with the narration in some passages was a bit frustrating. Those two factors (the abridgment and the dynamic range issues) resulted in my giving this production four rather than five stars. Still an enjoyable production.

I received a digital audio review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Want to buy the audiobook copy of The Secret Garden and have a portion of the sale benefit your local independent bookstore? Click HERE. (I will post a dedicated link when the audiobook releases on September 10.)

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