Question

[Caroline]

I didn't even know there was a musical

[Brenda]

It was on Broadway in the 80s and starred Mandy Patinkin and Rebecca Luker (as Mr. & the late Mrs. Craven). Daisy Egan, the actress who played Mary, won a Tony award for the role.

[Heather]

I just read the book to my daughter. That part was not in the book.

[Marigold]

Mary's dad capt. Lennox and Mr. Craven's wife were twins. that's why mary looked soo much like her.

[Wanda]

Actually, I thought the book sort of implied that Dickon will not survive, and that Colin and Mary will end up together. There's a scene somewhere in there where a shadow falls across Dickon as he is looking at the cousins, which I took to presage his early death during the war.

[Hayley]

Wanda wrote: "Actually, I thought the book sort of implied that Dickon will not survive, and that Colin and Mary will end up together. There's a scene somewhere in there where a shadow falls across Dickon as he ..."

Wanda, are you sure you're not thinking of a movie version? The book ends as children and I don't recall that any war is mentioned, or even alluded to, at all.

[Linn]

In most Europen countries you are still allowed to marry your first cousin, just to let you all know.

[Helen]

I used to live opposite a married couple who were cousins. They had two children (why would you take the risk?) who both had handicaps. One was deaf if I remember and the other had learning difficulties. Fortunately, this outcome was not in the book.

[Rut]

Mary wrote: "Brenda wrote: "Archibald Craven was so messed up, I assumed that large numbers of people would look like his late wife."

I just read this book and there's no mention of the sisters being twins. Si..."

I know! The first time I read this book as a girl, I was looking forward to finding the part where Miss Medlock would inform Mary that her mother and aunt were twins. Imagine my surprise where no conversation of the sort took place. Moreover, Lord Archibald is not struck at all by Mary’s resemblance of Colin’s mother when they first met! That is something I had expected to happen too. Despite that, I think Warner’s adaptation movie was fantastic, in fact it is one of my favourite movies, I loved it so much that my sister gave the book knowing I would love it as well, which I did. I cannot even remember how many times I re-read the chapter about Mary’s introduction to Martha and Dickon.
Which was your favourite part of this wonderful book?

[Kelly Brigid ♡]

Uh, that definitely wasn't in the book. Cause eww, that's just wrong.

[๓คץค-]

Ok, thats just weird and doesn't even seem probable. Dickon in a war? Highly unlikely. And Mary and Collin? EW!!! :)

[Brenda]

I believe it must have been WW1, which works out about right for time. Nearly every able-bodied man in Britain was pressured to enlist; there were groups of women organized to hand white feathers (for cowardice) to men who were not in uniform. Colin probably could get out of it because of his bad health and incipient hunch, but a healthy boy like Dickon would have almost certainly had to go. Something on the order of 800K men died -- they're doing a commemoration of it right now at the Tower of London. Have a look here, and be sure and click through to see the pictures: http://poppies.hrp.org.uk/

This does not change the truth that it was a dorky thing to add to the movie. The story stands perfectly well without it.

[๓คץค-]

yeah, thats true. sad that such a lively boy like dickon would have to go to war. :(

[Vickie]

Roxanne wrote: "Hallmark, like Disney, makes stories too sweet, me thinks. Aside from that, this book made me to always want a secret garden. When I was a kid, a secret garden to hide in...Now that I'm Granma, a ..."

When I was a little girl, we had a secret place which was an opening in a really old, thick lilac hedge. It was a great place to sit, especially when the lilacs were blooming!

[๓คץค-]

Vickie wrote: When I was a little girl, we had a secret place which was an opening in a really old, thick lilac hedge. It was a great place to sit, especially when the lilacs were blooming!

That sounds wonderful!

[Lana]

i the movie back to the secret garden dickon died in the war and colin and mary are married and run an ophanage

[Annette]

Kristen wrote: "I read this book a LONG time ago. I just watched the Hallmark version and at the end they say Dickon died in the war and Mary and Collin get engaged. Is that stuff actually in the book or was that ..."
tell that to Ciel Phantomhive, he's engaged with his cousin Elizabeth, (and she totally don't deserve him)

[R.J.]

I've seen several versions of the story made into film and I was always disappointed that the film-makers completely missed the "Secret" message that the author very obviously (if you're looking for it) wrote into the book.

If you look at the book from the perspective of motherhood, it is about three women. Mary's mother is dead, and she isn't missed much. Colin's mother is dead, and she is missed greatly. Dicken's mother is still alive, and even though she is not encountered until very late in the book (there's a whole chapter, cut out of the movies, where she suddenly shows up and delivers something akin to a sermon to help explain the "magic") her presence is made almost instantly apparent to the reader through the actions of her children.

I have to wonder if the scriptwriters even read the book before throwing together the movie.

[Marie]

Cassondra wrote: "However, if you want to read the original book for free online, go to http://www.gutenberg.org and search Burnett under authors. "A Little Princess" is also there. There are millions of books free full text on this site because they have lost their copywrite since they were written so long ago. They are completely free and legal to download!

You can also get out of copyright books free in Kindle version on Amazon.

[Iona]

Kristen wrote: "I never knew they made a sequel! Is it good? Or cheesy?"
The story return to the secret garden is definitely cool it's about a girl who finds Mary's diary though I won't give away spoilers.

[Liz]

Angie wrote: "My first English book to read without being told by school. I really love it.

No one got engaged and no one died in the end. In fact, the story never has an Epilogue of what happened in the future..."

Back in the old days they married their cusin's wither it to keep nobility in the family or no one eles was really close enought to marry. Queen victoria and Prince Albert were cousibs like mary and colin , it has become taboo as time passed,

[Alondra]

No epilogue?! That’s sad!

[Lorna]

In the Hallmark version, Colin and Mary are not related. Their parents were friends, and Mary was the Cravens' goddaughter. So no obstacle to their marrying. Also, that was Colin Firth as the adult Colin!

The post-war framing story is silly, anyway. When Burnett wrote it in 1910, no one knew the Great War was going to happen. And if it was set in the same year it was published, the children would be in their early teens when the war started.

And FTR, Captain Crewe, Sara's father in A Little Princess, did not die in a war (Great, Boer, or other); he died in India, of "jungle fever" (same thing that killed Mary's parents?). And that was for real, not a case of mistaken identity which leads to a last-minute save. As some sickening adaptations have it.