The Secret Garden Chapter Summary & Analysis | Chapter 1, "There's No One Left"

Chapter 1, "There's No One Left" Summary

Mary Lennox is thought to be the most disagreeable child ever seen, pitifully thin with waxy-looking skin, limp hair and a miserable disposition. Her family is from England, living now in India. Mary's mother puts her into the care of an Ayah, an Indian nursemaid, just after she is born, and rarely sees her. Mary grows up in the care of native servants who give her way in everything so she won't start to cry and disturb her mother. By the time Mary is six years old, she is a selfish tyrant who chases away the English governesses who are hired to teach her.

One morning when Mary is about nine years old, she awakens to a day that feels wrong. The servant by her bed is not her Ayah, and insists that Ayah cannot come today even though Mary flies into a rage and kicks her. Some servants are...
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