Is There A Second Secret Garden

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· 73 ratings · 10 reviews

Start your review of The Forgotten Room: A Sequel to 'The Secret Garden'

This looks like worth the read, esp as I just scoured online for decent fanfiction. I ALWAYS need to know what happened when they grow up.

Jun 18, 2013 Pam rated it it was amazing

Stacie Morrell does an excellent job in writing The Forgotten Door, a sequel to The Secret Garden. She has captured the innocence and essence of The Secret Garden and simply filled in the next chapter.
Her portrayal of the characters of Mary, Colin, Dikon and Mr. Cravens follow the guides the original set forth. Mary has grown into a sweet, kind young lady who does have lapses back to her unpleasantness of her childhood. She still has no use for Colin when he gets on his high horse as the future Stacie Morrell does an excellent job in writing The Forgotten Door, a sequel to The Secret Garden. She has captured the innocence and essence of The Secret Garden and simply filled in the next chapter.
Her portrayal of the characters of Mary, Colin, Dikon and Mr. Cravens follow the guides the original set forth. Mary has grown into a sweet, kind young lady who does have lapses back to her unpleasantness of her childhood. She still has no use for Colin when he gets on his high horse as the future Lord of the manor. Dikon keeps his unobtrusive way as he mingles with the animals and plants in the garden. Mr. Cravens is turning into a wonderful man who is trying so hard to learn how to love his son and ward.
Into this mix, a governess is thrown. Neither Mary nor Colin have been attending school and are woefully behind in their studies. Miss Edmonds arrives and meets the dreams Mary and Colin had for a governess. She is pretty, has kind blue eyes, knows about the magic of nature, and is a firm but kind governess.
Mary, while playing hide and seek one rainy day, finds a tapestry which garners her attention. Behind the tapestry is an even better surprise. It is the room of a young girl about Mary's age who seems to have been forgotten. Untangling the mystery of the room and the secret passage Colin finds and learning love at the hands of Miss Edmonds makes for a wonderful book.
This is an easy read and one which even junior high students, especially girls, would find delightful. For a sequel, this book stands out as a success. I love it. I would read it again and again. ...more

I loved it!

I have always loved 'The Secret Garden' having read the book a number of times, watched the various movies and listened to the audio version. I loved everything about this book and felt like it was a worthy sequel to 'The Secret Garden'.

Jul 09, 2021 DeAnna rated it did not like it

They say "You can't go home again." I think the corollary to that is, "Don't read 'sequels' to favorite childhood books written by different authors." Dull, flat characters, predictable. Going back to gaze at the gorgeous Tasha Tudor illustrations in my copy of The Secret Garden now. They say "You can't go home again." I think the corollary to that is, "Don't read 'sequels' to favorite childhood books written by different authors." Dull, flat characters, predictable. Going back to gaze at the gorgeous Tasha Tudor illustrations in my copy of The Secret Garden now. ...more

I LOVED this! It was like going back in time to see what some of my favorite characters were up to and getting to be a part of their happy ending. Highly recommend.

Jul 26, 2013 Rhin rated it liked it

*Review originally posted on my blog.*

When I got my hands on the paperback version of the book, I was surprised to notice it was printed differently from all the books I have. I immediately thought it could be a self-published work as evident in the font type and absence of page numbers. On the other hand, who cares? What matters is the content of the story, right?

The Secret Garden's story continues in Stacie Morrell's version. Familiar characters still play their parts in this book, but a newco

*Review originally posted on my blog.*

The Secret Garden's story continues in Stacie Morrell's version. Familiar characters still play their parts in this book, but a newcomer will soon change everything. The setting of the story remains the same, taking place at Misselthwaite Manor. However, what sets this apart from the original classic is that while the classic focuses on the garden, The Forgotten Room reveals a specific room in the manor yet unfamiliar to the readers.

It's the same as the garden that leads Mary to discover the room. Her curiosity to know as much as she can pushes her to snoop around. The room becomes her secret room, a place where she can call her own. And there, she finds comfort and attempts to know the story behind the room's neglection.

I like how Stacie Morrell also explores the story centering a bit on parenthood and family. As mentioned in the classic, Uncle Craven soon decides that it's already a good time to hire a governess to tutor Mary and Colin. This information is something new to Mary and Colin, hence their excitement and eagerness to meet their visitor. Along the way, after being introduced to their new governess, Miss Jane Edmonds, and spending time with her, Mary and Colin begin to feel things unusual to them. These feelings have caught them off guard due to the lack of maternal influence in their lives. Since then, they've sought Miss Edmond's attention, unconsciously yearning for a maternal bond.

Despite having different authors, reading The Forgotten Room still feels like reading The Secret Garden. Stacie Morrell is able to capture the writing style of Frances Hodgson Burnett and added her own style to craft a possible phenomenon after the whole timeframe period of the classic. The characteristics of the characters are distinguishable and readers could see how Mary and Colin are both still children and yet slowly growing mature in terms of their choices and decisions. I especially love the part where the author considers Mary and Dickon's friendship to grow into something more. The budding attraction they've shown to each other is both sweet and adorable. Moreover, readers could witness the softer side of Mrs. Medlock!

The downside of this book is that I feel the story lacks some things. Throughout the process of reading it, there are some questions that surfaced but are left unanswered. Character-building and story-building are not developed in depth as I hoped they would be. I also expected that the forgotten room would be the core of the story, but somehow, the topic is just brushed through. Nevertheless, I still enjoy reading it. The Forgotten Room is a short and easy read and is surely catered to younger readers.

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Apr 06, 2016 Valerie rated it really liked it

The Forgotten Room: A Sequel to Frances Hodgson Burnett's 'The Secret Garden' by Stacie Morrell was first published as a Kindle eBook in 2012. At the time, it had not been edited/proofread at all. Since then, I've received word from the author that it has now been edited/proofread and it is also available in a trade paperback format as well as Kindle.

I am a huge fan of the original The Secret Garden (it's my all-time favorite book in the world) and have read it more times than I can count. I hav

I am a huge fan of the original The Secret Garden (it's my all-time favorite book in the world) and have read it more times than I can count. I have also read the other sequel Return to the Secret Garden by Susan Moody, which I thought was absolutely horrid. Consequently, I was a bit skeptical of this story. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I felt that while it doesn't quite have the same magic that the original story has, the author did stay true to the characters' personality traits and the dynamics between the personalities.

I thought the story line was sweet and believable. The manor house has been shut up for many years, so it's not hard to imagine that there are rooms that people haven't been in for decades. Nor is it hard to imagine Mary not being certain that she wants to share it with anyone else.

The ending seemed a little convoluted, but it was somewhat believable. Since the book mostly focuses on the children, we don't really see any interactions the adults may or may not have.

If you're a fan of the original, you may very well like this one.

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Jan 15, 2012 Donna rated it really liked it

An enjoyable sequel. Was bothered by typos in the text.

Jun 03, 2016 Chloë rated it it was ok

It ended just as it was getting started. Also, some unfortunate self-publishing-related editorial/design/production gaffs. Overall, pretty good for fan-fiction.

I must confess something…my family is neurotic. We prefer the term 'eccentric,' but truthfully, either is accurate. Raised an only child of two teachers, I lived a rather sheltered life as a child, but managed to get into trouble anyway. We never had money to travel, although we did take a few road trips which were almost epic. Almost. I was with my parents, after all.

We did not have much 'disposa

We did not have much 'disposable income,' and as a result we shopped at used clothes stores and thrift stores. Now it's cool, but back then…not so much. If you weren't wearing Jordache jeans, fringed leather, Nikes, or whatever was in style I can't remember, you were mercilessly ridiculed. Oh, yeah, I lived that, and I don't mean the Jordache jeans either. I was wearing cords 10 years after they were 'cool.' Out of spite, I did not wear cords for about 20 years. Currently I only have 1 pair of cord leggings. I may still bear a slight grudge…

I was a kid who liked to read, wrote poetry, and could not relate to others to save my life. Nowadays I'd probably be evaluated on the Asperger's spectrum somewhere, but back then they just called you weird or a nerd or a dork or something worse. I had a small group of friends who tolerated me most of the time. But I was lonely and depressed almost always. This was before the Prozac popularity. Oh, well, I survived, even my Freshman year, which we won't talk about, and graduated high school with a 3.0 average because I was…um…absent most of my senior year. I didn't want to go to college (one of those hindsight being 20/20 instances we all live to regret), and then hit 18 and lost my mind. Not literally, but parties, late nights (early mornings really), bad boyfriends, sewing wild oats, all came into it. Really it's a miracle I survived and my parents didn't completely loose their…sh…poop.

I got married at 19, which probably saved my life, and began a long period of workaholism. I was a respectable adult and, by golly, I was going to prove it to everyone, especially my parents. I think my record was 3 part-time jobs and a volunteer position at one time.

We bought our first house. We thought, 'It's only 936 square feet. We'll fix it up in a year and flip it.' Ever seen the movie The Money Pit with Shelly Long and Tom Hanks? Yup. Nine years later and an ulcer for my husband I'm sure, we purchased my grandparents' home from their estate and here we still are. Yeah, this one needs work too, but what the heck. It's standing. Yes, I like clichés. So there.

Along the years, we gained and lost a variety of rescue pets. Currently, we have two dogs and two cats, subject to change at any moment. Personally, I prefer the cats, but my husband and daughter prefer the dogs. I love them so, we have dogs. My daughter likes both, actually. If it were up to her, we'd have ferrets, birds, fish, rabbits, guinea pigs…getting out of the pet store is not pretty.

At the ripe age of 33, I birthed our daughter, and slipped into postpartum depression. Here enters the Prozac. Actually it was something else to begin with. After my maternity leave I went back to a revised and much more stressful position and spent the next 6 years falling apart emotionally. Between the work stress and the altered body/brain chemicals, I eventually had a 'severe depressive episode.' My husband had to force me to seek help. I lasted another six months at my uber stressful job before I mentally crumbled and got fired.

Enter Severe Depressive Episode Two. After being shut in my house for two weeks, I saw a posting for volunteers needed. Eureka! I could volunteer while looking for a job! Being a driven individual with compulsive behavior, I ended up volunteering at 5 different organizations in our town, and 'working' more than full time. Then my husband said 'TIME OUT!' Really, he said something along the lines of 'what is your deal?!' I gracefully bowed out of a couple of volunteer positions, and was then offered a job with one of the organizations I was

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