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The Locked Garden (2009)

by Gloria Whelan(Favorite Author)

3.35 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0060790946 (ISBN13: 9780060790943)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

HarperCollins

review 1: 12 year old Verna and 6 year old Carlie move with their father and aunt to the grounds of a mental institution in northern Michigan. The year is 1900, and their father is a well-known psychiatrist who has radical ideas about the improvement of mental health. The children enjoying playing on the beautiful grounds and get to know the patients who are well enough to be outside and work, though Verna wonders about the patients in the locked ward and how they will ever get better by being locked up. Eleanor, who is recovering from depression, comes to work for the family and quickly endears herself to the children, causing tension in the household. When dour Aunt Maude becomes jealous, her actions nearly cause irreparable damage and it's up to Verna and Callie to try to help El... moreeanor free herself from her harsh father and inner demons. The ending happens rather abruptly and is too insightful to be from a child's point of view. I didn't feel this book was as well written as some of her previous novels for the same age group but I liked learning about the treatment of mental health patients at the turn-of-the-century.
review 2: Interesting plot and very well-written but I thought for a book aimed at around 12-14 year olds the ending was too frustrating. Every time the two girls tried to make things right, their plans were thwarted by the grown ups and their obviously-stupid conventions and strict social rules. In the end the heroine pretty much said 'I guess we'd better just stay out of it and let the grown-ups figure it out - I'm sure eventually they'll work it out for themselves' and that was it. I felt like the whole time they were fighting for nothing. I'm sure it's very realistic, especially in that time period, but I found it really frustrating and I think I would have been even more disappointed if I'd read this at a young age. Also, at times the dialogue didn't ring true for the era and sounded too slangy and casual - for instance other characters when talking to the girls about their father would say 'your dad'. It just seemed wrong.I have to say though the author writes an excellent villain - Aunt Maude was so well-meaning yet so subtly sinister - and so realistically flawed; you could kind of see why she did the things she did, and feel a little bit sorry for her. And Elanor's father just made my skin crawl. less

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