The Secret Garden

About Authors

Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was a world-famous English writer and playwright. The author always loved telling different stories. From 1868 her stories were published in women's magazines. In 1886 her first novel, `Little Lord Fauntleroy`, was published. The book became a bestseller and had more than 20 editions. This success determined the further creative path of the writer. The next novels were `A Little Princess` and `The Land of the Blue Flower`.

`The Secret Garden` is one of Burnett's most notable works. The book was first published in 1911. The novel became one of the classic novels of world children's literature and is still republished into many languages, and artists around the world are competing for the opportunity to create illustrations for it. There are about ten adaptations of `The Secret Garden`.

Lyubov Malygina lives in Kyiv and has been illustrating for more than nine years. The last two years she prefers to draw using watercolour techniques. Her favourite topics are flowers and animals. She is fond of teaching watercolour techniques on her own. In 2018, `The Secret Garden`, which was illustrated by Lyubov, won the nominations `The Works for the middle grade students` of the `Book of the Year` award. A few words about the search for the style of the book: `It really became a search, I looked at many books that were illustrated before, studied the Yorkshire area (it appears in the text), looked at the furniture and clothing style of that time. My daughter and I watched movies and reread the book aloud… I wanted to bring something of my own, to make the illustrations unique, I wanted to fill them with light, air, space. To give this story the lightness, aroma of flowers, a lot of joy, comfort and warmth… I think I succeeded.

Specifications