Library Notes
August 21, 2011
Sara Grajek

“If you look the right way, you can see the whole world is a garden,” wrote Frances Hodgson Burnett in The Secret Garden. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, gardening is not a hobby for the faint of heart. Blink and nature will take over. Gardens can also produce some of the most beautiful things you’ve ever seen. The following fictional books will take you into the world of gardens, families, and whimsy and perhaps remind you why you garden. Check one out at Rowan Public Library today!

Sarah Addison Allen’s Garden Spells is set in Bascom, NC, a fictional town but distinctively southern. Claire Waverly creates scrumptious dishes using edible flowers that affect the eater in unusual ways. Her garden is known throughout the town and the apple tree is rumored to grow a very special kind of fruit. Sydney, her younger sister, traveled the country for years but then silently returned one day with her 10 year old daughter. As with many stories, all is not as it seems as Sydney was running away from her abusive boyfriend. Fans of Alice Hoffman will enjoy Allen’s books, and as an added bonus, readers can find recipes from the novel on her website www.sarahaddisonallen.com.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton not only takes place in a garden, but throughout multiple time periods. Several characters take turns telling the story of a young girl’s mysterious disappearance from an English estate in the early 1900’s. Each part of the story becomes a piece that ties the mystery together – the aunt who spends her entire life searching for her, the fairy tales woven through the book, the stately estate with the garden hidden in the center. Morton admits to the parallels of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett in her novel but was actually first inspired by a true “forgotten garden” in Cornwall, England, “The Lost Garden of Heligan.”

The Secret Garden was one of the last books Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote in her long career. A highly celebrated author, she was considered the J.K. Rowling of her time. Little Lord Fauntleroy was her most popular work, published in serial form in a magazine and highly anticipated by her readers before each publication. The Secret Garden was also published in serial form, released in American Magazine in 1910 before being compiled as a book in 1911. In the story, Mary Lennox discovers the door to a garden that has not been touched in ten years. As she starts to work the garden, she also makes friends with other children at Misselthwaite Manor including her mysterious cousin Colin.

Rowan Public Library will be continuing its centennial celebration with a special edition of the Book Bites Book Club. Join us Tuesday, September 13 at 6:30 pm, for a book discussion of The Secret Garden in the Stanback Room in Salisbury. Also make plans to come again on Tuesday, September 27 at 6:30 pm for a free viewing of the movie, The Secret Garden, with popcorn and lemonade!