The Forgotten Garden

Last updated

The Forgotten Garden
Theforgottengarden.jpg
First edition cover
AuthorKate Morton
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Allen & Unwin
Publication date
1 July 2008
Media typePrint (Hardbound)
Pages552 pp.
ISBN 1-74114-998-3
OCLC 232979156

The Forgotten Garden is a 2008 novel written by Australian author Kate Morton, driven by the mystery of why a 4-year-old child is found abandoned on an Australian wharf in 1913.

Contents

While paying homage to Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden and the Gothic novel, Morton's second work explores living with and overcoming loss - of trust, of identity, or of loved ones - and was inspired by Morton's own family history.

Plot

At Nell's joyous 21st birthday party her world falls apart when her father tells her she was adopted as a 4-year-old in 1913, seemingly abandoned on an Australian wharf and unable to remember her name. The knowledge shatters her self-image and changes the course of her life.

In 1975, the only surviving clues to Nell's past are given to her after her father's death; the memories they trigger lead her to travel to England to unravel the puzzle, part of which is connected to the author of a rare fairytale book in her possession. She discovers her true identity despite having been thought dead for more than 60 years, and finds her way to Tregenna, and Blackhurst Manor, on the coast of Cornwall.

However, her plans to complete the quest are interrupted when her granddaughter Cassandra comes to stay "temporarily," a stay that becomes permanent. In the end it is Cassandra, haunted by her own griefs, who in 2005 follows in Nell's footsteps to finish the journey of discovery and fit together all the missing pieces.

Major themes/style

Major themes and subject tags for this novel include: abandoned children, Australia, country homes, England, Cornwall, Inheritance and succession.

Kirkus describes this novel as "weighty" and "at times unwieldy." The plot is described as "intricate" with "intersecting narratives" and "heavy-handed fairy-tale symbolism." [1]

The Forgotten Garden exhibits many of the Gothic conventions found in books like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, most poignantly the dark and gloomy estate. There are also recognizable parallels between this novel and Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden. [2]

Publication history

Published in the United States by Atria Books, April 2009, ISBN   978-1-4165-5054-9, hardback.

Developmental history

Kate Morton drew on personal experiences as she wrote The Forgotten Garden. Morton's own grandmother, just like Nell, found out on her 21st birthday that she was not the biological daughter of her parents. It was a secret she kept until she confided in her three older daughters as an old woman, and this dark secret was one of the inspirations for her novel. Morton was also inspired by her own home, which sits on a Paddington hillside, and the mysterious Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. All of these elements are woven throughout her story. [3]

Reception

The Forgotten Garden has generally been received positively by critics and readers alike. Morton is described as having the "storyteller's touch," [4] an author who has "supreme control of her material," and a "writer who is really getting into her stride." [5] Her novel is described as a "beautifully written and satisfying novel," "another beautiful and compulsively readable romantic mystery." [6]

Awards and nominations

Other works

Morton's other published works include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Hodgson Burnett</span> British novelist and playwright (1849–1924)

Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911).

<i>The Secret Garden</i> 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden is a children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialisation in The American Magazine. Set in England, it is seen as a classic of English children's literature. The American edition was published by the Frederick A. Stokes Company with illustrations by Maria Louise Kirk and the British edition by Heinemann with illustrations by Charles Heath Robinson.

<i>The Old Curiosity Shop</i> 1840–1841 novel by Charles Dickens

The Old Curiosity Shop is one of two novels which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York readers reputedly stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841.

<i>The Secret Garden</i> (1993 film) 1993 film by Agnieszka Holland

The Secret Garden is a 1993 fantasy drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland, executive-produced by Francis Ford Coppola and distributed by Warner Bros. under their Family Entertainment imprint. Starring Kate Maberly, Heydon Prowse, Andrew Knott and Maggie Smith, the film's screenplay was written by Caroline Thompson, based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It also marked the film debuts for Maberly, Prowse and Knott. The novel was previously adapted in 1919 and 1949.

Ann Thwaite is a British writer who is the author of five major biographies. AA Milne: His Life was the Whitbread Biography of the Year, 1990. Edmund Gosse: A Literary Landscape was described by John Carey as "magnificent - one of the finest literary biographies of our time". Glimpses of the Wonderful about the life of Edmund Gosse's father, Philip Henry Gosse, was picked out by D. J. Taylor in The Independent as one of the "Ten Best Biographies" ever. Her biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett was originally published as Waiting for the Party (1974) and reissued in 2020 with the title Beyond the Secret Garden, with a foreword by Jacqueline Wilson. Emily Tennyson, The Poet's Wife (1996) was reissued by Faber Finds for the Tennyson bicentenary in 2009.

<i>The Secret Garden</i> (musical) 1991 Broadway musical

The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The musical's script and lyrics are by Marsha Norman, with music by Lucy Simon. It premiered on Broadway in 1991 and ran for 709 performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Maytham Hall</span> English country house

Great Maytham Hall, near Rolvenden, Kent, England, is a Grade II* listed country house. The gardens are famous for providing the inspiration for The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Susan Moody, is the principal pen name of Susan Elizabeth Horwood, an English novelist best known for her suspense novels.

<i>The Secret Garden</i> (1949 film) 1949 film by Fred M. Wilcox

The Secret Garden is a 1949 American drama film. It is the second screen adaptation of the classic 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The first was a silent version released in 1919. The screenplay by Robert Ardrey was directed by Fred M. Wilcox. It centers on a young orphan who is thrust into the dark and mysterious lives of her widowed uncle and his disabled son when she comes to live with them in their isolated country house in Yorkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Morton</span> Australian author (born 1976)

Kate Morton is an Australian author. She is known for her best-selling novels, including The House at Riverton, The Forgotten Garden, and The Distant Hours. Her seventh book, Homecoming, was published in April 2023.

<i>Starcrossed</i> (novel) 2011 fantasy paranormal romance novel by American author Josephine Angelini

Starcrossed is a fantasy paranormal romance novel by American author Josephine Angelini. The story follows a girl named Helen Hamilton, who is gradually revealed to be a modern-day Helen of Troy. After discovering her heritage, Helen learns that a union with the boy she loves may trigger a new Trojan War. The novel was followed by the sequels Dreamless and Goddess, and received praise from critics and fantasy authors amidst its release.

Sarah Hollis Andrews is a former English child actress, best known for playing the role of Mary Lennox in the British television adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, and now continuing her career using the name Holly Hamilton.

Amy Myers is a British mystery writer. She is best known for her Marsh and Daughter mystery series, featuring a writing team consisting of a wheel-chair bound ex-policeman and his daughter, and for another series, featuring a Victorian era chef, Auguste Didier. Myers' books have been favourably reviewed in Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. Myers has also been published many times in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Janet Hutchings, the magazine's longtime editor, called Myers "one of our best and most frequent contributors of historicals".

Julia Thompson von Stosch Schayer was an American writer, best known for her short stories published in the 1870s-1890s.

<i>The Royal Ranger: A New Beginning</i> Book by John Flanagan

A New Beginning, originally titled The Royal Ranger, is the twelfth and final novel in the Ranger's Apprentice series, written by Australian author John Flanagan. It was released in Australia on 1 October 2013, in New Zealand on 4 October 2013, and in the United States and Canada on 5 November 2013. In 2018, it was renamed A New Beginning and it became the first book in the Ranger's Apprentice sequel series, The Royal Ranger.

<i>The Secret Garden</i> (TV series) 1975 BBC Production

The Secret Garden is a 1975 British television adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel of the same name. Adapted, produced and directed by Dorothea Brooking, it was first broadcast on BBC 1 in seven 30-minute episodes. This is the only BBC adaptation of the novel known to exist in its entirety. The 1952 adaptation is missing all eight episodes and the 1960 adaptation is missing three of its eight episodes.

<i>Amber House</i> (novel) 2012 novel by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed and Larkin Reed

Amber House is the first book in what was initially dubbed the Amber House Trilogy by American author Kelly Moore and her daughters Tucker Reed and Larkin Reed. The book follows narrator Sarah Parsons, who discovers she has the psychic ability of psychometry, enabling her to see into her own history as she stays at her family's ancestral estate outside of Annapolis, Maryland.

The Shuttle is a 1907 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. One of Burnett's longer and more complicated books for adults, it deals with themes of intermarriages between wealthy American heiresses and impoverished British nobles.

<i>The Secret Garden</i> (2020 film) 2020 British fantasy film directed by Marc Munden

The Secret Garden is a 2020 British fantasy drama film based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the fourth film adaptation of the novel. Directed by Marc Munden and produced by David Heyman, it stars Dixie Egerickx, Colin Firth and Julie Walters. Set in 1947 England, the plot follows a young orphan who is sent to live with her uncle, only to discover a magical garden at his estate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Townesend (surgeon)</span> English surgeon and writer

Stephen Chapman Townesend F.R.C.S. was an English surgeon, stage actor, anti-vivisectionist and writer.

References

  1. "The Forgotten Garden". Kirkus Reviews. 1 April 2009.
  2. Morton, Kate (7 April 2009). Amazon Exclusive: A Conversation with Author Kate Morton. ISBN   978-1416550549.
  3. "Kate Morton The Forgotten Garden". Video. YouTube.
  4. Weissman, Kathy. "Review: The Forgotten Garden". Bookreporter.com.
  5. ""The Forgotten Garden: A Novel" by Kate Morton". thelitreview.com.
  6. Robinson, Deborah. "The Forgotten Garden". Australian Women Online.
  7. "Summary/Reviews: The forgotten garden". www.buffalolib.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  8. Morton, Kate. "About Kate". p. Katemorton.com. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2011.