The Secret Garden - Part One - by Maud Begon

You know the tale: it’s India, 1910, and cholera kills Mary’s entire family and staff. Hiding in the nursery, she alone is spared.

She’s a spoilt, ill-mannered brat, and is dispatched to the indifferent care of her uncle, a widower living in a sombre old manor on the blustery Yorkshire moors.

It’s a gothic maze of a mansion, but Mary is forbidden from exploring the wings and corridors, and her uncle refuses to see her, ever. Turned outdoors by housemaid Martha, Mary’s left to her own devices…

She hears crying in the night, befriends a robin, learns of a rose garden all locked up and gone to ruin. And one day she finds the key…

Maud Begon has done a marvellous job adapting Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911-classic to the graphic novel form. She’s faithful to the story, incorporates original dialogue, and well captures Mary as the ghasty, petulant horror who blossoms with exercise, fresh air, and a garden to care for.

Martha is as much a delight here as in the original. Dickon: well, he’s still as milk-cheeked and wholesome as Burnett created; in Begon’s illustrations he looks a little like a leprechaun - perhaps channelling that unreal goodness. I especially liked how the illustrations escape to the garden during Mary and Colin’s first bedside encounter.

The Secret Garden: Part One runs 95 pages, ending with Mary meeting Colin, and the two discussing the importance of secrets… The two-part form is infuriating! Argh: the wait! I enjoyed Begon’s adaptation enormously and am impatient to see how she renders the second half.

Lovely illustrations, snappy dialogue, even pacing: it’s a treat to see The Secret Garden in this format.

Many thanks to Maud Begon, Europe Comics, and NetGalley fo my advanced reading copy. Can’t wait for the next installment.

The Secret Garden - Part One by Maud Begon was published by Europe Comics in 2021 and is adapted from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.