The Secret Garden
By: Frances Hodgson Burnett / Narrated By: Josephine Bailey
Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
This has GOT to be the Best Audio Production of the many, maaaany versions available!
First, kudos to my dearest Maman for choosing The Secret Garden for our little audiobook club recently. And HUZZAH and a HALF to her for spending soooo much time listening to the many audio Samples to see which narrator was best. So don’t take it from me, after all, what do I know? I just glommed onto what she chose for us: Take it from a very patient woman who did all the legwork… er, EARwork. And to all of us, this version as narrated by Josephine Bailey was treMENdous!
Since I’m already on narration, let’s just address Josephine Bailey’s work, shall we? It’s AWEsome from the get-go, but whoo-boy does she shine when she does dialogue, or what?!? At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to like the story (Which I somehow managed to avoid reading throughout the gazillion and six years of my life) as our young heroine, Mary, is a sickly, inCREDibly spoiled child, born and living in British India. But as the story progressed, and she met other nifty people, it all grew on me. And Bailey captures it all, from Mary’s early whining and tempers, all the way to where she meets a lad who speaks to animals (Dickon), and further on to the petulant and oh sooooo much more sicklier-than-she-ever was cousin Colin. Throw in the DESperately Yorkshire and crotchety gardener, old Ben, and Bailey manages their thoughts, their conversations, their inner dialogue, like, all peachy-keen in an extraordinary manner. If I wore a hat, it’d be Hats Off to Ms. Bailey!
And thanks so much, Mom, for giving them all a listen and for choosing her!
So here it is, this story published in 1911 and which holds up entirely well this over-a-century age later. Mary is left orphaned in India after a cholera epidemic takes her family. Now this was an unloving group who pawned her off to be raised by servants, so Mary has been isolated and given everything she screeches for. She’s sent to England and there discovers that nope, she doesn’t know how to do anything for herself, always has had servants to dress her and see to her every whim. She’s encouraged by the young maid Martha to get out into the fresh air, that it’ll help her disposition, help her life.
Once out and about, Mary starts discovering things… things that she LIKES. Like the red-breasted robin who’s taken a fancy to her. Like grouchy and he of few words, Ben. She likes how Martha interacts with her, and how Martha tells her of her own family, huge with brothers and sisters, and led by a wise mama.
Plus, the robin, on one of his strutting walks, reveals a key that’s been buried far from sight. And she discovers this key opens into what is a truly secret and overgrown garden of a place. This she shares with Martha’s brother Dickon who has enchanted her by his compassionate words, his way of living still with animal friends, his manner of speaking. The two are determined to make the secret garden a wonderful and live place again.
Mary’s discovery of her screeeeeching and ailing cousin, her discussions of him (Colin) with Dickon have the two convinced that if Colin could just get out, could come to their secret garden, feel the air, feel the earth that they’ve been tilling and nurturing, maybe he won’t die early but will get better, get healthy.
This is a truly magnificent story, with well-crafted characters, and Mary isn’t the only one with an extraordinary and delightful character arc. Mary’s uncle, Colin’s father, has been living as the walking dead ever since his young wife died, unable to bear even looking at Colin when he’s awake as the lad has his mother’s eyes. He’s forgotten how to be a living, breathing, wonderstruck human being. But whilst out in the world, avoiding his estate, perhaps the garden, perhaps his wife, can speak to him?
I shed tears, truly I did, when all was said and done. And we’d been getting entirely tooooo heavy with our Listens in our audiobook club, so what a WONderful way to spend the just under 8 hours The Secret Garden is! All three of us just felt lighter, and our conversation about the audiobook was chockfull of words like: Healing, and Joy, and Blessing. During our fraught times? Oh how neeeeat to be able to have such words sprinkling a conversation, this conversation between much-loved family members.
You have some free time coming up? You need some cheering up? Something to let go of?
Oh dooooo give this a Listen!
Yeh yeh yeh. There are Instant Classics and such all. Ahhhh, but there’s a reason THIS one is a True Classic—Over a hundred years old, and with Ms. Bailey bringing such spectacular characters to life, with gently breathing Hope into the day? Oh what a wondrous way to spend the time!!!
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.