Into the Bright Open: A Secret Garden Remix

The twentieth century has barely begun when 15-year-old Mary Craven, following the untimely death of her parents, is sent from her Toronto home to Georgian Bay to live with an uncle she’s never met. Mary decides to treat her new home and the people there like the staff she has been accustomed to. Gradually she learns some family secrets, such as her cousin Olive who is hidden in the attic. Mary gets to know the French and Indigenous people around her and starts to explore the gardens on the estate, even venturing as far as Georgian Bay, itself. Eventually Mary learns a great deal about living “in the wilds” and a great deal about herself as well.

When readers first meet Mary, she is a demanding, disdainful and quite unlikeable young woman who gives little or no thought to what she says and how she treats those around her. Dimaline presents her and, later in the novel, her Aunt Rebecca, as small but concrete examples of white English-speaking colonists whose treatment of other cultures and races leaves a great deal to be desired. Eventually, thanks to the influences of both the people she meets and the natural environment she finds herself in, Mary begins to change. She becomes more understanding and accepting, willing to be a part of her ‘found’ family rather than the mistress of it.

Other characters in the novel help Mary’s personality to grow. Flora is a no-nonsense Métis teen who occasionally mothers Mary while not hesitating to set her straight when she misunderstands or misbehaves. The character of Olive adds mystery to the story, a family secret hidden in the attic. Gradually, Mary delves into her supposed longstanding illness and begins to query the roles of Aunt Rebecca and the local doctor. Lastly, there is Sophie, another Métis teen, who introduces Mary to the wonders of the gardens and the natural world surrounding the estate, as well as to the wonders of friendship and love. The two young women share a special connection as their romance develops.

Missing until the last few pages is the uncle who has become Mary’s guardian. When he arrives, everything changes, and this denouement feels rather clumsy and rushed. Like a magician, he alters life around the house in mere moments. And then the novel switches to a scene which takes place one year later which adds to the hurried feeling at the end of the book.

The gardens play a major role in the story. This is where Mary learns many life lessons and where the romance between her and Sophie develops. The gardens become a metaphor for thinking ‘outside the box’, whether the box is the physical house or the constraints and norms of the society from which Mary has come. Nature becomes magical and almost edenic, a place where Mary can find the ‘bright open’ of the book’s title.

According to the Macmillancom website, “In the Remixed Classics series, authors from diverse backgrounds take different literary classics from centuries past and reinterpret them through their own unique cultural lens. This collection will serve YA readers as both a series of fun, engaging reads as well as a subversive overall look at what our society has deemed “classic” — works that are overwhelmingly cishet, white, and male.”

Cherie Dimaline is a well-known Canadian writer who won the Governor-General’s Literary Award for her 2017 novel, The Marrow Thieves , and she has done a great job of paralleling the classic A Secret Garden while updating it for modern young adult readers.