I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

One of my favourite books when I was younger and so I had to get the graphic novel when I saw it on Netgalley. I was curious how the story would be adapted and how much changed from the original. Well quite a bit. Haha, the whole India part is left out and Mary is definitely not so much of a brat as I remember her from when I read the original during my childhood.

Meet Mary, a tiny little girl who lost her parents and is now struggling with the loss. I guess with the India parts away, it changed things for me. Whereas I remember her as quite spoiled and grumpy with a dash of loss, here it seemed more that she was bratty and grumpy because of the loss, not because she was spoiled. I really liked that change. It made me like her much more and had me rooting for her. Hoping that she would find the garden soon and discover the fun and joy of growing something, discovering animals and flora.

I loved seeing her bond with the servants, getting quite close with Martha. Who wasn’t impressed that much by Mary’s grumpiness (she also clearly just saw a little girl who was lost and alone). I loved that they had fun chats, and that Martha bought a present for Mary so she could have fun.

The secret garden was just wonderful and I especially loved seeing it bloom and get cleaned up a bit. It still held its wild magic.. but it also become something else. I loved seeing Mary and Dickon garden, plant flowers, pick away the things that are dead. Later on they get help and things get even better.

We also meet Colin, who was definitely NOT my favourite character for most of the book. I can kind of see where he is coming from in regards to his attitude. A father who doesn’t care, a mother who died, doctors and servants who talk about death. I was worried he would spoil the garden. I was worried he would just ruin things. But in the end he just needed a friend, friends even. Something to do. Someone to play with. A garden to take care of. I love how he transformed and how his attitude changed.

I love seeing everyone bloom. Mary got much more happy, but she also helped out her uncle and her nephew. The garden got revived. Animals glitter. There is magic in the air. At times I was just tearing up, especially during the last few pages. Those were so well done. Making me smile and tear up.

The art was just so pretty and I love the style and how well it fitted with the story and the characters.

All in all, I would highly recommend this one to everyone. I am kind of eager to read the original novel again, because it has been ages!