The Secret Garden
Martha Sowerby
The housemaid
A plain-spoken Yorkshire housemaid who tells Mary about the moor and the locked garden, and who gives her first real kindness.
Martha Sowerby is the housemaid who looks after Mary on her first morning at Misselthwaite. She is good-natured, bustling and funny, and she speaks in a broad Yorkshire dialect. She cannot imagine a girl who does not dress herself, and says so.
Martha is the bridge between the manor and the moor. She tells Mary about her twelve brothers and sisters, about her brother Dickon who talks to wild things, and about the garden that has been locked for ten years. She treats Mary like a person and not a problem, which no one has done before. She laughs easily, speaks her mind, and is never in awe of the manor or its rules. She is proud of her family, and she is kind to Mary without making a fuss of it.
“Good morning to thee! Th' fire is lit and thy breakfast is waitin'.”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Martha is Mary's first friend. She brings a skipping rope that her mother bought out of her own money, and Mary says it is the first thing anyone ever bought just for her. She carries Mary's letter to Dickon and delivers the message that Mr. Craven has sent for her.
She is worried when Mary spends a night with Colin, afraid of what Mrs. Medlock will say, but she keeps her secret. She is part of the circle that makes the manor feel like a home.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
