The Secret Garden is one of the most delightful and enduring classics of children's literature. It has remained a firm favourite with children ever since it made its first appearance in The American Magazine in 1910. It was brought out in the novel form in 1911. The plot of the book centres around Mary Lennox, a spoiled, contrary, solitary child raised in India but sent to live in her uncle's Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire after her parent's death in a cholera epidemic. Mary had never met her uncle Archibald Craven before. When she arrives at her uncle's manor, she is rude, stubborn and given to stormy temper tantrums. But her nature undergoes a gradual transformation when she comes to know the tragedies that have occurred to her strict and disciplinarian uncle, whom she earlier feared and despised. She is left to herself by her uncle because he often travels to escape the memory of his deceased wife. The only person who has time for Mary is her chambermaid, Martha, who tells her about Mrs Craven's walled garden, closed and locked since her death. She becomes fascinated by the prospect of the forgotten garden, and her quest to find out the garden's secrets leads her to discover other secrets hidden in the Manor. Combined with the unlikely friendships she makes along the way, these discoveries help her come out of her shell and find a new fascination with the world around her. This novel appeals to both young and old alike as it has beautiful elements of mystery, spirituality, charming characters and an authentic rendering of childhood emotions and experiences. It has been adapted extensively on stage, film, and television and translated into all the world's major languages.