The Secret Garden (AmazonClassics Edition) characters

Appears from the start

A neglected ten-year-old English girl raised in colonial India by servants while her parents ignored her. Orphaned during a cholera outbreak, Mary is thin, imperious, and unused to affection or independence when she is sent to live at her uncle's Yorkshire estate.

Appears from the start

Mary's beautiful, socially absorbed mother, who keeps her daughter out of sight and leaves her care to an ayah. She and Mary's father die during the cholera outbreak in India.

First appears in chapter 2

The severe housekeeper of Misselthwaite Manor, charged with taking the orphaned Mary from London to Yorkshire. She warns Mary that the immense house is largely shut up and that her uncle will not tolerate being disturbed.

Also known as Mr. Craven

First appears in chapter 2

Mary's uncle and the master of Misselthwaite Manor. Widowed and physically stooped, he travels frequently and keeps much of his house closed, avoiding reminders of the wife whose death left him consumed by grief.

First appears in chapter 4

A cheerful young housemaid from a large Yorkshire family. Martha speaks frankly to Mary, expects her to dress and occupy herself without constant service, and tells her about the moor, her brother Dickon, and their practical mother.

First appears in chapter 4

An elderly gardener at Misselthwaite, weathered, solitary, and blunt. Ben initially finds Mary as disagreeable as himself, but their shared loneliness and his friendship with a robin give them common ground.

First appears in chapter 4

A robin living in the manor gardens and friendly with Ben Weatherstaff. Its fearless curiosity draws Mary outdoors and gives her the first sense that another creature might welcome her company.

Also known as Mrs. Craven

First appears in chapter 7

Archibald Craven's late wife and Mary's aunt. She loved a private walled garden, but after an accident there led to her death, her grieving husband locked its door and buried the key.

First appears in chapter 10

Martha's twelve-year-old brother, a moorland boy with an unusual gentleness toward animals. He brings Mary gardening tools and seeds, and creatures trust him enough to follow or perch near him.

First appears in chapter 13

Archibald Craven's sickly son and Mary's cousin, hidden in a remote room at Misselthwaite. Convinced that he will become deformed and die young, Colin commands the servants from bed and erupts when contradicted, yet he is intensely curious about the cousin who discovers him.

First appears in chapter 14

Archibald Craven's cousin and Colin's physician. He supervises the sheltered boy's health, though Mary distrusts the gloomy expectations surrounding Colin and notices that the doctor would inherit the estate if Colin died.

First appears in chapter 18

Martha and Dickon's capable, warmhearted mother, known to Mary first through her children's admiration. Her advice, modest gifts, and understanding provide care from a distance to children at Misselthwaite who lack an attentive parent.