What do you think?
Rate this book
The Dawn of a To-Morrow
Frances Hodgson Burnett, one of the early and most famous of women writers for children and adults, tells of Anthony Dart, ready to end his beggar days with a gun to his head. On the way to his place of demise, he threw a coin to a girl street urchin. She demanded to take him for a cup of coffee, where a thief grabbed the coin from her. Anthony chased the thief and found a reason to live. But there was much more to do.
104 pages, Paperback
First published April 12, 1905
9 people are currently reading
252 people want to read
About the author
Frances Hodgson Burnett
1,761 books4,916 followersFrances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911).
Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, Manchester, England. After her father died in 1853, when Frances was 4 years old, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling in New Market, Tennessee. Frances began her writing career there at age 19 to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines. In 1870, her mother died. In Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1873 she married Swan M. Burnett, who became a medical doctor. Their first son Lionel was born a year later. The Burnetts lived for two years in Paris, where their second son Vivian was born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C. Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowrie's), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess.
Beginning in the 1880s, Burnett began to travel to England frequently and in the 1890s bought a home there, where she wrote The Secret Garden. Her elder son, Lionel, died of tuberculosis in 1890, which caused a relapse of the depression she had struggled with for much of her life. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898, married Stephen Townesend in 1900, and divorced him in 1902. A few years later she settled in Nassau County, New York, where she died in 1924 and is buried in Roslyn Cemetery.
In 1936, a memorial sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh was erected in her honor in Central Park's Conservatory Garden. The statue depicts her two famous Secret Garden characters, Mary and Dickon.
Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, Manchester, England. After her father died in 1853, when Frances was 4 years old, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling in New Market, Tennessee. Frances began her writing career there at age 19 to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines. In 1870, her mother died. In Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1873 she married Swan M. Burnett, who became a medical doctor. Their first son Lionel was born a year later. The Burnetts lived for two years in Paris, where their second son Vivian was born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C. Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowrie's), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess.
Beginning in the 1880s, Burnett began to travel to England frequently and in the 1890s bought a home there, where she wrote The Secret Garden. Her elder son, Lionel, died of tuberculosis in 1890, which caused a relapse of the depression she had struggled with for much of her life. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898, married Stephen Townesend in 1900, and divorced him in 1902. A few years later she settled in Nassau County, New York, where she died in 1924 and is buried in Roslyn Cemetery.
In 1936, a memorial sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh was erected in her honor in Central Park's Conservatory Garden. The statue depicts her two famous Secret Garden characters, Mary and Dickon.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
December 17, 2024
Sentimental but so satisfying at Christmas
This book has long been a favorite when I was depressed. I can’t help but enjoy it every year when Christmas comes around. I quite wish it were a full novel like The Head of the House of Coombe and Robin, a similar story of redemption. Burnett is a beloved character weaver, and will always rank as a great writer for me, not just of my childhood but of my adulthood as well.
This book has long been a favorite when I was depressed. I can’t help but enjoy it every year when Christmas comes around. I quite wish it were a full novel like The Head of the House of Coombe and Robin, a similar story of redemption. Burnett is a beloved character weaver, and will always rank as a great writer for me, not just of my childhood but of my adulthood as well.
December 20, 2020
What I like about this book is that it gets inside the pain of the hurting and shows how they get out the other side. I've been in the place of the main character, eeking along, losing hope for finding a reason to face tomorrow.
I didn't agree with all the theology behind this, but what interested me was what the desperate find hope in and that even though their lives are about as miserable as they can get, they cling to what they know of faith.
I didn't particularly care for the way the dialogue is written for the street people. It was hard to read and hard to understand.
I didn't agree with all the theology behind this, but what interested me was what the desperate find hope in and that even though their lives are about as miserable as they can get, they cling to what they know of faith.
I didn't particularly care for the way the dialogue is written for the street people. It was hard to read and hard to understand.
August 6, 2014
A wonderful short story, which perfectly sets forth Francis Hodgson Burnett's philosophy of life in the form of an engaging narrative of a depressed and suicidal businessman who loses his way in a London fog and meets a number of strangers who change his outlook on life. It's a lot less cheesy than it sounds, I swear. The atmosphere of the writing perfectly fits the theme, and I really liked all of the characters, particularly the beggar girl, Glad.
As someone who has always enjoyed Burnett's novels partially as an illustration or discussion about what it really means to be a good person, this shorter work was particularly nice.
As someone who has always enjoyed Burnett's novels partially as an illustration or discussion about what it really means to be a good person, this shorter work was particularly nice.
March 23, 2024
Read this for my first Upstate NY Living Room Academy school.
It's a short book ... four chapters long, and opens with a rather dark scene of a man despondent at life and arranging details for a secret suicide. On his way to buy the gun he runs across several street people, and finds himself living a little longer than anticipated.
A sweet story of how to find happiness through service. A great rendering of a modernized take on can a rich man go to heaven without giving all he has away?
It's a short book ... four chapters long, and opens with a rather dark scene of a man despondent at life and arranging details for a secret suicide. On his way to buy the gun he runs across several street people, and finds himself living a little longer than anticipated.
A sweet story of how to find happiness through service. A great rendering of a modernized take on can a rich man go to heaven without giving all he has away?
October 16, 2018
The basic story here is interesting, and there are a few nuggets of truth, but there’s too much missing from the theology/philosophy here for me to really be happy with the way it explains the world. It’s like a really gritty grown up version of Pollyanna, with some new age bits thrown in.
Be aware that though nothing explicit happens there are themes of suicide and mentions of prostitution.
Be aware that though nothing explicit happens there are themes of suicide and mentions of prostitution.
June 29, 2025
This is, I believe, the earliest book I've ever read to discuss mental illness. The protagonist is contemplating suicide and Burnett makes it clear that it's because he suffers from depression, even though she doesn't have the word for it. The story also frankly discusses sex work in the early 20th century, with twelve-year-old heroine Glad remarking casually that she lives with a sex worker who was forced into the job after she was impregnated by her boss and lost the baby and that she expects to go into sex work when she's old enough, too.
This being from the early 20th century, the answer to all of the problems is, of course, God, but it's not nearly as cloying as many other works, and Burnett never makes it explicitly Christian, just monotheistic. It's an interesting read and generally unflinching - of its time, but important because of it.
CW: suicide ideation
This being from the early 20th century, the answer to all of the problems is, of course, God, but it's not nearly as cloying as many other works, and Burnett never makes it explicitly Christian, just monotheistic. It's an interesting read and generally unflinching - of its time, but important because of it.
CW: suicide ideation
March 5, 2013
This novella with a soap opera title surprisingly impressed me. When a depressed man decides to commit suicide, questions jump up in the reader’s mind like tin rabbits at a shooting gallery. The dismal fog that English cities are infamous for only adds to the dark powers gripping this unfortunate man. When a street urchin, prostitute and thief are added to the mix, you can be sure of a literary delicacy long to be savored and remembered. It is a truism that if others woes are known, yours don’t seem so bad. This isn’t only a good read but it is also food for thought; without the aftertaste. First published in 1906, this short story still carries an inspirational message for readers today. I highly recommend it to a general public.
Want to read
June 18, 2019This novel was adapted to film in 1915 starring Mary Pickford and in 1924.
Read this book for free through Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/460/46...
Read this book for free through Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/460/46...
March 2, 2017
uplifting your spirit ;)
February 21, 2022
Frances Hodgson Burnett is most famous for her children's novels: A Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy, but she also wrote works for adults such as her novella, "Dawn of A To-Morrow," which explores such bleak subjects as suicide, prostitution, and dire poverty. Some people might say this story is about religious conversion, but it is more nuanced than that. Burnett's idea is that people in all stations of life share a common humanity that includes trials of body and soul. Yet hope can flourish and life can prosper if we see each other as individuals, as fellow human beings, and try to help one another, instead of throwing up our hands and saying "It is God's will" when bad things happen. Burnett writes with skill and artistry that is effective and moving.
February 27, 2023
A big fan of A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, I've been eager to read Burnett's lesser known works. I was surprised by the grittiness of this novella about a suicidal man, a beggar girl, a thief, and a prostitute (or really, is it the story of Miss Montaubyn?), but the way Burnett deals with the big questions of life were handled in the masterful style I have come to trust in Burnett's writing.
September 20, 2018
Primer cuento infantil que leo en mi vida, honestamente Enrique me absorbía en cada enseñanza que provenía de su familia, los compañeros de la escuela y los docentes, un cuento muy tierno pero a la vez con algunos pasajes melancólicos.
March 18, 2024
I have become too cynical and angry a person to find anything salvageable in these stories anymore.
Sono diventata una persona troppo cinica e arrabbiata per trovare ancora in queste storie qualcosa di salvabile.
Sono diventata una persona troppo cinica e arrabbiata per trovare ancora in queste storie qualcosa di salvabile.
February 3, 2020
Very short and interesting read.
May 25, 2021
For some reason I felt that we could benefit from a final chapter: "One year on...." to find out what changes had actually been made.
June 24, 2008
This is an awful, heavy-handed, maudlin novella about a rich man who is saved from suicide by the pure, childlike faith of poor women. But amidst the sexism and classism and Faith In Jesus Solves Everything-ism, there lies Burnett's understanding of the evils of poverty. There is also a great little scene buried underneath dialect:
'"If you could do what you liked," he said, "what would you like to do?"
Her chuckle became an outright laugh.
"If I 'ad ten pounds?" she asked, evidently prepared to adjust herself in imagination to any form of unlooked-for good luck.
"If you had more?"
"If I 'ad a wand like the one Jem told me was in the pantermine?"
"Yes," he answered.
She sat and stared at the fire a few moments, and then began to speak in a low luxuriating voice.
"I'd get a better room," she said, revelling. "There's one in the next 'ouse. I'd 'ave a few sticks o' furnisher in it—a bed an' a chair or two. I'd get some warm petticuts an' a shawl an' a 'at—with a ostrich feather in it. Polly an' me'd live together. We'd 'ave fire an' grub every day, I'd get drunken Bet's biby put in an 'ome. I'd 'elp the women when they 'ad to lie up. I'd—I'd 'elp 'im a bit," with a jerk of her elbow toward the thief. "If 'e was kept fed p'r'aps 'e could work out that thing in 'is 'ead. I'd go round the court an' 'elp them with 'usbands that knocks 'em about. I'd—I'd put a stop to the knockin' about," a queer fixed look showing itself in her eyes. "If I 'ad money I could do it. 'Ow much," with sudden prudence, "could a body 'ave—with one o' them wands?"'
'"If you could do what you liked," he said, "what would you like to do?"
Her chuckle became an outright laugh.
"If I 'ad ten pounds?" she asked, evidently prepared to adjust herself in imagination to any form of unlooked-for good luck.
"If you had more?"
"If I 'ad a wand like the one Jem told me was in the pantermine?"
"Yes," he answered.
She sat and stared at the fire a few moments, and then began to speak in a low luxuriating voice.
"I'd get a better room," she said, revelling. "There's one in the next 'ouse. I'd 'ave a few sticks o' furnisher in it—a bed an' a chair or two. I'd get some warm petticuts an' a shawl an' a 'at—with a ostrich feather in it. Polly an' me'd live together. We'd 'ave fire an' grub every day, I'd get drunken Bet's biby put in an 'ome. I'd 'elp the women when they 'ad to lie up. I'd—I'd 'elp 'im a bit," with a jerk of her elbow toward the thief. "If 'e was kept fed p'r'aps 'e could work out that thing in 'is 'ead. I'd go round the court an' 'elp them with 'usbands that knocks 'em about. I'd—I'd put a stop to the knockin' about," a queer fixed look showing itself in her eyes. "If I 'ad money I could do it. 'Ow much," with sudden prudence, "could a body 'ave—with one o' them wands?"'
July 27, 2011
A slightly strange short novel by an author better known for children's fiction. Antony Dart is the hero, and we meet him in dingy lodgings (despite being, evidently, a gentleman). He is depressed, and has determined to end it all.
The style is rather gothic at first with lengthy descriptions of the London fog that was common a hundred years ago, and which is responsible, a little later on, for Antony losing his way back to his lodgings after buying a hand gun. He throws a pound to an urchin girl and is persuaded to buy some coffee.. and gradually becomes aware of a world far removed from his own.
Overall it's an encouraging book, with a fairly overt message about the ignorance of the wealthy, and the plight of the impoverished. There are messages too about being content in any circumstances, and looking for positives, and also a surprisingly modern Christian viewpoint, unexpected from a writer who was far from mainstream in her beliefs.
Not recommended for children, but as a thought-provoking and fairly quick read for anyone interested in the social history of Victorian times, or indeed looking for a different kind of story. Free for the Kindle.
The style is rather gothic at first with lengthy descriptions of the London fog that was common a hundred years ago, and which is responsible, a little later on, for Antony losing his way back to his lodgings after buying a hand gun. He throws a pound to an urchin girl and is persuaded to buy some coffee.. and gradually becomes aware of a world far removed from his own.
Overall it's an encouraging book, with a fairly overt message about the ignorance of the wealthy, and the plight of the impoverished. There are messages too about being content in any circumstances, and looking for positives, and also a surprisingly modern Christian viewpoint, unexpected from a writer who was far from mainstream in her beliefs.
Not recommended for children, but as a thought-provoking and fairly quick read for anyone interested in the social history of Victorian times, or indeed looking for a different kind of story. Free for the Kindle.
January 2, 2010
I came across this book while moodily wandering the stacks and checked it out partially because I'd never read any adult fiction by Burnett, but primarily because it was incredibly short and I figured I could handle it.
Had I not started reading it at 1:23 am, I probably could have finished this in one sitting. This strikes me as something that originally was serialized in a magazine at the turn of the century. Unlike most books written before 1950 and written in dialect, this was an incredibly easy read.
People familiar with the Annotated Secret Garden will recognize Burnett's life philosophy in this book. People familiar with Wayne Dyer's beliefs will not find Burnett's views much different than his.
Overall, a sweet story, and a nice way to begin the new year.
Had I not started reading it at 1:23 am, I probably could have finished this in one sitting. This strikes me as something that originally was serialized in a magazine at the turn of the century. Unlike most books written before 1950 and written in dialect, this was an incredibly easy read.
People familiar with the Annotated Secret Garden will recognize Burnett's life philosophy in this book. People familiar with Wayne Dyer's beliefs will not find Burnett's views much different than his.
Overall, a sweet story, and a nice way to begin the new year.
January 1, 2015
Interesting story of a man intent on committing suicide. On the way to his place of demise, he threw a coin to a street urchin. She demanded to take him for a cup of coffee, where a thief grabbed the coin from her. Anthony chased the thief, caught him, and listened to his reason for stealing. This got him involved in the lives of the people in the neighborhood, who were in more dire conditions than he, which made him realize he had reasons to live. But there was much more to do and he got involved. It's a lovely story of poverty, faith, and redemption.
November 19, 2016
Lühike jutustus rikkast ületöötanud mehest, kes on hullumise äärel ja hangib pandimajast revolvri, et oma elupäevad keset ränka udust päeva lõpetada, kui satub ühe lustaka tänavaplika otsa. Järgneb sündmusteahel, mis jõuab välja lihtsate ning vaeste inimeste rõõmsa õpetusteni halastavast Jumalast, kes kõigi ja kõige eest hoolitseb.
Arvestades loo kulgu polnud paraku mingi teistsugune lõpp isegi mitte mõeldav.
Arvestades loo kulgu polnud paraku mingi teistsugune lõpp isegi mitte mõeldav.
September 11, 2012
One of the collection of Burnett's works that I purchased in Nook compilation form. This is essentially a story of a man at the precipice of suicide who, in a most unlikely way, learns the value of life and a means of making his own life have value to others--saving himself in the process. For all of us who wish that we had in order that we might give, this is a very powerful story.
April 23, 2009
I've read all of her children's books so often, I know some of them by heart, but this was my first forage into her books written for an adult audience. I was pleasantly surprised. I think I'll try to find more. Gutenberg has a pretty good selection.
June 28, 2012
This is an EXCELLENT little story about hope and faith. I have no idea if Burnett wrote it for children or not, it seems a little mature for the younger set, and the written dialect may put some readers off. But I loved it.
July 2, 2024
The Secret Garden was one of my favorite books from childhood, so when I saw a first edition of this book from 1906 for $15 on Ebay, I bought it incredibly fast. The story, unfortunately, is nothing extraordinary, but the copy I have is still one of my most prized books in my collection.
January 19, 2011
Another free Kindle book I read while in Tucson. I'll tell you about it after I finish entering all the books.
August 29, 2013
I didn't expect that the story would be super religious.
September 25, 2013
A curious book, with unusual realism. I review it on my blog: http://surfeitofbooks.blogspot.com/20...
August 11, 2014
A beautifully simple novel reminding the reader that there is always love and hope in the world. We only need to look for it and believe in it's presence. I loved this book.
February 28, 2015
the story remains relevant in the 21st century. if one is ever feeling depressed, this novella may well cure it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews