5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Author of The Secret Garden

April 12, 2024

Literature

Nesha Ruther

Writer at Bond & Grace

The Secret Garden is one of the most beloved children’s novels of all time. An inspiring story of healing, hope, and the power of nature, generations of readers have loved watching the spoiled, cross little orphan Mary Lennox transform into a caring, compassionate young girl. With iconic characters like Dickon, Colin, and Martha accompanying her on her journey, it is no wonder readers continue to return to this beloved tale.

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But what about the woman who wrote it? Here are five things you didn’t know about the extraordinary Frances Hodgson Burnett

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Frances Hodgson Burnett Was the Highest Paid Women Writer of Her Time

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Frances was born in Manchester, England in 1849, but moved to Tennessee as a teenager. In Manchester, her family was comfortably middle class due to her father’s prosperous trade selling household goods and hardware to a population that was making its money through the burgeoning textile industry. However, their fortune quickly changed after her father’s early death. Her mother tried to carry on the business but lost money through declining trade and the American Civil War which cut off the cotton supply. The family moved into increasingly poor neighborhoods before eventually immigrating to Tennessee, where they lived in a log cabin and nearly starved during the final months of the Civil War.

When Frances began to consider a life as a writer, she and her sister picked grapes and asked two African American girls to sell them at a market, so that she could buy paper and postage to send one of her stories to a New York magazine. After a confusing response from one publication, she sent it to another who liked it but said that it was “so distinctly English that our reader is not sure of its having been written by an American. Will you kindly inform us if the story is original?” To prove its originality, she quickly sent them another. Both were immediately accepted, accompanied by a check. With that, everything she wrote for the rest of her life was accepted for publication. Frances was eighteen at the time and she went on to be the highest-paid female writer of her time.

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FHB is Responsible for the Creation of Copyright Law in England

Aside from The Secret Garden, one of Frances’ most beloved children’s novels is Little Lord Fauntleroy. Fascinatingly, it was the popularity of this story that would bring copyright law to England. In 1887, while visiting Paris, Frances discovered that a play based on Fauntleroy was about to be produced in London. There was at the time no international copyright law, and even though she had published the story in both England and America, she did not hold the dramatic rights. Frances left immediately for London, writing her own version of the play en route and opening The Real Little Lord Fauntleroy at Terry’s Theatre, not to mention bringing a lawsuit against the usurper. Frances not only won the case, but it established the precedent for copyright law in England. She was feted at a grand dinner hosted by England’s greatest writers, many of whom had encountered similar troubles. They even presented her with diamond jewelry to show their appreciation for the increased protection she provided to writers across the country.

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The Death of Her Son deeply Inspired The Secret Garden

As a young woman, Frances married the American, Swan Burnett who was an aspiring doctor. Together they had two sons, Lionel and Vivian. While Swan was in medical school, it was Frances’ writing that supported the family, and even after he opened his practice her income far exceeded his. Touring new releases of her books kept Frances busy, and while she adored her sons, she often spent months apart from them while she traveled.

It was while she was again in Paris that she heard from Swan that their son Lionel was gravely ill. She rushed home, taking her son to all the important doctors and spas she could find, but he died of tuberculosis in Paris in 1890, at the age of sixteen. Frances never forgave herself, and much of the rest of her life was a memorial to him.

In many ways, The Secret Garden’s publication in 1911 is Frances’ answer to the questions she had been asking herself since her son's death. What does it mean to be sick? What does it mean to be well? How can we recover from grief? How can we forgive ourselves for our failures? We can see echoes of Frances’ love and loss in both Mary and Colin, but perhaps most potently in Colin’s father Mr. Craven, a man who is so overcome with grief over the loss of his wife that he abandons his son. Thankfully, Mr. Craven finds forgiveness and redemption in the end, giving us hope that Frances Found that for herself too.

FHB Was Skeptical of Mainstream Medicine - “symptoms & doctors are rubbish!”

Frances Hodgson Burnett was a follower of New Thought, a spiritual movement of the early 20th century that, like its cousin Christian Science, took a more holistic and spiritual approach to physical health. Its adherents embraced the idea that God is everywhere, that the human spirit is divine, that sickness originates in the mind, and that “right thinking” leads to healing.

While many of New Thought's beliefs do not account for the very real challenges posed by both physical and mental illnesses, Frances used this influence to create the central philosophy of The Secret Garden that outdoor activity, time in nature, and community and companionship are just as central to health as traditional medicine.

FHB Planted Acres of Flowers and wrote More Than 1000 Articles about Gardening

A prolific gardener, Frances planted acres of flowers at her home in the U.S. and in the winter home she shared with her sister in Bermuda. She also published over 1,000 articles in magazines such as Country Life and The Garden.

In a spirited essay titled “In the Garden,” published in 1925, Frances makes clear her appreciation of gardens and provides insight into her own substantial experience with gardening–an experience that dates back to her childhood in Tennessee. In an enthusiastic endorsement of gardening for all, she writes: “I have a theory that everyone in the world really wants a garden, though many perhaps are not conscious of their need.”

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For Frances Hodgson Burnett, gardening and writing were kindred forms of creative expression, equally essential to self-exploration and self-sustenance. Learn more about her life and career in The Secret Garden Art Novel.