Play Audiobook Sample
Play Audiobook Sample
“McDowell’s gorgeous book opens an ivy-covered door to new information about one of the world’s most famous authors.”—Angelica Shirley Carpenter, editor of In the Garden
New York Times bestselling author Marta McDowell has revealed the way that plants have stirred some of our most cherished authors, including Beatrix Potter, Emily Dickinson, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. In her latest, she shares a moving account of how gardening deeply inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author of the beloved children's classic The Secret Garden.Download and start listening now!
"“From walled and terraced flower beds can sprout beloved children’s fiction, as the historian Marta McDowell chronicles in Unearthing the Secret Garden.” —The New York Times “Affectionate and informative, Unearthing the Secret Garden is not unlike a garden itself, with its smooth lawns of prose and striking shows of illustration and photography. As in Burnett’s enclosures at Maytham Hall, one is forever turning a corner—or, rather, a page—and coming across a fresh vista.” —The Wall Street Journal “With a sprightly tone, infectious enthusiasm, and a professor’s penchant for scholarly detail, McDowell brings keen insight and critical assessment to the life and works of this beloved author.” —Booklist “This book is for anyone who loves reading or gardening or exploring the history of places and lives entwined.” —Gardens Illustrated “Rich in details, lavish with illustrations, including many from the story’s various print versions, this book is a must-have for anyone whose first horticulture passions were triggered by hat gateway drug to gardening, otherwise known as The Secret Garden.” —The Washington Gardener “Blooming with photos, illustrations, and botanical paintings, McDowell’s gorgeous book opens an ivy-covered door to new information about one of the world’s most famous authors."
— Angelica Shirley Carpenter, editor of In the Garden: Essays in Honor of Frances Hodgson Burnett “McDowell’s beautiful writing and research take us all on an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of a blooming world that has only existed in our imaginations, until now.
“McDowell’s beautiful writing and research take us all on an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of a blooming world that has only existed in our imaginations, until now.”
— Keri Wilt, motivational speaker, writer, and great-great-granddaughter of Frances Hodgson Burnett“McDowell’s blending of this abiding fiction with its author’s real life is safe and sure. New readers—young and old—will be propelled into a faraway enchanted world now magically reawakened more than a hundred years on.”
— David Wheeler, editor, HortusBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Marta McDowell teaches landscape history and horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden and consults for private clients and public gardens. Her books include The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Frontier Landscapes that Inspired the Little House Books in September 2017. All the Presidents’ Gardens made the New York Times bestseller list in 2015 and won an American Horticultural Society book award. Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life won a 2014 Gold Award from the Garden Writers Association and is in its sixth printing. Marta is working on a revision of her first book, Emily Dickinson’s Gardens. Marta is one of the founders of the Chatham Community Garden and is on the board of the NJ Historical Foundation at the Cross Estate in Bernardsville. Her husband, Kirke Bent, summarizes her biography as “I am therefore I dig,” and their pet cockatiel is named Sydney.
Jane Copland has over twenty-five years’ experience in broadcasting and voice-overs. Working mainly in television, she has been a BBC newsreader, presenter, and continuity announcer. She has narrated many documentaries for BBC 2, Channel 4, and the History Channel. For her first audiobook, The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland, she played both female and male roles and a host of accents from posh to cockney, Dutch to Italian.