Literature
Gardens of delight...
Part of ‘The Secret Garden’ at Great Maytham Hall
In the latest of her literature-inspired travels Lorna Hogg visits some of the locations which inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s classic The Secret Garden The latest film adaption of The Secret Garden by Anglo American author Frances Hodgson Burnett, will introduce the Victorian classic to a new generation, with a new twist. This version is set in 1947, the time of Indian Independence, yet the essence is timeless. It tells the story of an orphaned little girl, moving to a new home in England, and learning, through restoring an overgrown garden, a sense of belonging and hope. However, the story of that girl, Mary Lennox, pales beside that of its author – who overcame poverty, parental and home loss, to support her family and create a full and successful life. Frances Hodgson Burnett was born on November 24th, 1848, the third of five children, into ‘impoverished gentility’ in Manchester’s Cheetham area. Her father worked in the metal business, and Frances’s first three years were spent in some comfort. However, his death left a pregnant wife, who somehow managed to carry on the family business, and educate the children. Frances attended a dame school, and later, a ‘select seminary’. Her grandmother instilled a love of reading in her, and she also loved flowers and gardens. One of her homes overlooked small holdings owned by the Earl of Derby. Frances described the place as the ‘back garden of Eden’ Fresh disaster struck, however, when the family business failed – it was the time of the American Civil War, and the ‘cotton famine’. An invitation to move came from her uncle, who had settled in Knoxville, Tennessee,
Frances Hodgson Burnett: at the height of her fame, and it has been claimed she was then the highest paid woman writer in the world.
so the family emigrated there. Ironically, the young Frances was told to burn her early writings, as they left their home to move to a country in the last stages of the Civil War. They had no better luck there, at one stage living in a log cabin. Senior Times l August 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 29
