Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) was born in Manchester,
England, on November 24, 1849, and emigrated with her family in
1865 to Tennessee, where she lived near Knoxville until her
marriage to Dr. S.M. Burnett in 1873. At eighteen, she began
publishing her stories in magazines such as Godey's Lady Book and
Scribner's. At 28, her novel That Lass O'Lowries, based on the
colliery life she had known in England, became her first success.
But the children's story she published in 1886, Little Lord
Fauntleroy, is what made her famous. Its hero's long curls and
velvet suit with lace collar became a popular fashion for little
boys. Little Lord Fauntleroy was also successfully dramatized, just
as a later novel, Sara Crewe, became the much better-known stage
play, The Little Princess (1905). While laying out a garden at her
new home in Long Island, Burnett conceived and wrote The Secret
Garden (1911), her best and most enduring work.
Sandra M. Gilbert, an acclaimed literary critic and poet, is the
coauthor of some of the most influential literary studies of our
time, including The Madwoman in the Attic- The Woman Writer and the
Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination and No Man's Land- The
Place of the Woman Writer in the Twentieth Century. She has also
published a memoir, Wrongful Death, as well as six collections of
verse, including Kissing the Bread- New and Selected Poems
1969-1999, which won the American book Award in 2001. A professor
of English at the University of California, Davis, Gilbert is a
past president of the Modern Language Association.
“It is only the exceptional author who can write a book about children with sufficient skill, charm, simplicity, and significance to make it acceptable to both young and old. Mrs. Burnett is one of the few thus gifted.”—The New York Times
Soothing and mellifluous, native Briton Bailey's voice proves an excellent instrument for polishing up a new edition of Burnett's story. Bratty and spoiled Mary Lennox is orphaned when her parents fall victim to a cholera outbreak in India. As a result, Mary becomes the ward of an uncle in England she has never met. As she hesitantly tries to carve a new life for herself at imposing and secluded Misselthwaite Manor, Mary befriends a high-spirited boy named Dickon and investigates a secret garden on the Manor grounds. She also discovers a sickly young cousin, Colin, who has been shut away in a hidden Manor room. Together Mary and Dickon help Colin blossom, and in the process Mary finds her identity and melts the heart of her emotionally distant uncle. Bailey makes fluid transitions between the voices and accents of various characters, from terse Mrs. Medlock and surly groundskeeper Ben to chipper housemaid Martha. And most enjoyably, she gives Mary a believably childlike voice. A brief biography of the author is included in an introduction. Ages 6-12. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
"It is only the exceptional author who can write a book about children with sufficient skill, charm, simplicity, and significance to make it acceptable to both young and old. Mrs. Burnett is one of the few thus gifted."-The New York Times
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