The Secret Garden

Mary Lennox, a member of a wealthy British family residing in India, is the novel's protagonist. She's 10 years old, spoilt by her staff, ignored by her uncaring parents, and a selfish, disagreeable brat. Mary loses both of her parents and all of the household help in a cholera epidemic. She first stays with an English clergyman's family for a short time, and then moves in with her widowed uncle, Archibald Craven, at his massive Yorkshire estate, Misselthwaite Manor. But her uncle is only occasionally present at Misselthwaite. Mary is taken to the estate by the meticulous head housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock, who locks her up in a room and forbids her from exploring the rest of the property.