When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. It was true, too. She had a little thin face and a little thin body, thin light hair and a sour expression. Her hair was yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another. Her father had held a position under the English Government and had always been busy and ill himself, and her mother had been a great beauty who cared only to go to parties and amuse herself with gay people. She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible...
A children's book is something like a long-lost friend. It's always of a sort of magic when you find your way back. One of my all time favorite children's books is The Secret Garden written by Frances Hodgson Burnett and originally published in 1910. I find it absolutely spellbinding. Apparently several film adaptations was been made since (the latest in 1993, starring Kate Maberly and Maggie Smith), none of which I have seen, sadly. But I shall make it my obligation to rectify this oversight of mine as soon as possible.
Have any of you seen the films? Any good?
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