Dead Author Interviews return, I'm sitting down with Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret Garden.

We're talking spoiled children, mysterious gardens, questionable parenting, the healing power of fresh air—and how Mary Lennox turned being disagreeable into an art form. On two separate continents!

Frances has been dead since 1924, so naturally, we had a lot to catch up on. 

 🎧 If you have a Dead Author you want to hear from, drop me a note at [email protected]

Dead Author Interviews: Frances Hodgson Burnett — coming soon.

I hope you have been enjoying these episodes as much as I enjoy bringing them to you. 

Reviews and shares make a huge difference. If you are enjoying these timeless stories, please leave a review wherever you listen. And pass the podcast along to a friend. 

To find out more about High Horse Press, go to https://www.cathicolas.com/

You can also see more of my work at cathicolas.com, or find me on Audible.  

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Guided by her friend, the robin and a gust of wind, Mary finds the hidden key and the long-lost door to the secret garden. 

Inside the quiet, wintry space, she spots tiny green shoots poking through the soil and spends the entire day happily weeding around them. 

Dickon Sowerby arrives at the manor with gardening tools, flower seeds, accompanied by his tamed wild animals.

Also, The Dead Author Interviews return! On Friday I’ll be interviewing Frances Hodgson-Burnett. She’s coming all the way from the afterlife to give us an insight into her life and how she came to write THE SECRET GARDEN. You don’t want to miss it. This episode will drop next week. I’ll keep you posted.

I hope you have been enjoying these episodes as much as I enjoy bringing them to you. 

Reviews and shares make a huge difference. If you are enjoying these timeless stories, please leave a review wherever you listen. And pass the podcast along to a friend. 

To find out more about High Horse Press, go to https://www.cathicolas.com/

You can also see more of my work at cathicolas.com, or find me on Audible.  

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or share it on Social Media.

Thanks for listening.

Terrible news from the diamond mines. Captain Crewe is dead. That means tough times ahead for Sara. Miss Minchin shows her true colors. Sara is the new Cinderella. No more dolls and fancy parties. 

She is moved to the attic next to Becky. But you know what, Sara is fine with all of it. That’s what makes her a true princess. I know, a little sappy, but what are ya gonna do.

I hope you have been enjoying these episodes as much as I enjoy bringing them to you. 

Reviews and shares make a huge difference. If you are enjoying these timeless stories, please leave a review wherever you listen. And pass the podcast along to a friend. 

To find out more about High Horse Press, go to https://www.cathicolas.com/

You can also see more of my work at cathicolas.com, or find me on Audible.  

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or share it on Social Media.

Thanks for listening.

Mary decides that she wants to visit Martha's cottage someday, to meet her mother and her brother Dickon.

Even so, Mary is sure that Dickon won't like her—after all, no one does.

Mary’s friend, the robin leads her to a hole in the ground where some dog has been digging. In the hole is an old keyring—and Mary realizes that it might be the key to the locked garden.

I hope you have been enjoying these episodes as much as I enjoy bringing them to you. 

Reviews and shares make a huge difference. If you are enjoying these timeless stories, please leave a review wherever you listen. And pass the podcast along to a friend. 

To find out more about High Horse Press, go to https://www.cathicolas.com/

You can also see more of my work at cathicolas.com, or find me on Audible.  

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or share it on Social Media.

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As she's getting out of the carriage one day, she sees a little dingy figure standing on the stairs, watching her. Her name is Becky and she is a servant of the house. Sara tries to befriend her, and Lavinia snottily points out that it's unseemly to hang out with servant girls.

Then, Lavinia, in true Mean Girls fashion, sniffs and huffs and says that they should call Sara "Your Royal Highness” when they find out her father is investing in a diamond mine.

We already don't like Lavinia, but it gets worse when she fights with Lottie, who is about a decade younger than she is. God, Lavinia, get a grip. 

I hope you have been enjoying these episodes as much as I enjoy bringing them to you. 

Reviews and shares make a huge difference. If you are enjoying these timeless stories, please leave a review wherever you listen. And pass the podcast along to a friend. 

To find out more about High Horse Press, go to https://www.cathicolas.com/

You can also see more of my work at cathicolas.com, or find me on Audible.  

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or share it on Social Media.

Thanks for listening.

Mary has been spending lots of time outdoors and is finally losing her yellow pallor and getting some color in her cheeks, Martha tells Mary why Mr. Craven closed off the garden. 

Mary starts to explore the house and finds a room filled with beautiful things; fur, silks, and other doo dads. Then she sees a portrait of a woman who looks unnervingly like herself. As she is exploring, she hears the sound of a child crying.

I hope you have been enjoying these episodes as much as I enjoy bringing them to you. 

Reviews and shares make a huge difference. If you are enjoying these timeless stories, please leave a review wherever you listen. And pass the podcast along to a friend. 

To find out more about High Horse Press, go to https://www.cathicolas.com/

You can also see more of my work at cathicolas.com, or find me on Audible.  

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or share it on Social Media.

Thanks for listening.

Ermengarde St. John is a very weird girl and has a decidedly weird name. She's not super smart, poor thing, and is blown away by Sara's ability to learn French.

Miss Minchin isn't very nice to Ermengarde, and because of this, Sara feels the need to reach out to her. Sara is super friendly and kind, so Ermengarde decides Sara will be her best friend (not weird at all). 

Then, Sara meets Lottie, a little girl prone to tantrums. and constantly uses the fact that her mother is dead as a bargaining chip. Sara tells Lottie that she doesn’t have a mama either, so she will be Lottie’s school mama. 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1911430/episodes/19543056

I hope you have been enjoying these episodes as much as I enjoy bringing them to you. 

Reviews and shares make a huge difference. If you are enjoying these timeless stories, please leave a review wherever you listen. And pass the podcast along to a friend. 

To find out more about High Horse Press, go to https://www.cathicolas.com/

You can also see more of my work at cathicolas.com, or find me on Audible.  

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or share it on Social Media.

Thanks for listening.

It's all rainy and gloomy—not exactly the most cheerful start to Mary's new life in Yorkshire. As they drive in a horse-drawn carriage, they pass a large, barren patch of ground, no trees, no birds, no nothin’. It’s the moor.  Mary takes one look at this big, empty, bleak stretch of land and decides, "I don't like it".

Mary wakes up in her new home, the next morning, to the sound of Martha, the young housemaid that will be attending her. Martha is somewhat shocked that Mary can’t dress herself. So, Martha breaks down and gets her dressed, letting her know, all the while, that this is not a permanent state of affairs. 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1911430/episodes/19531673

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/search?term=cathi%20colas%20audiobooks%20and%20high%20horse%20press

I hope you have been enjoying these episodes as much as I enjoy bringing them to you. 

Reviews and shares make a huge difference. If you are enjoying these timeless stories, please leave a review wherever you listen. And pass the podcast along to a friend. 

To find out more about High Horse Press, go to https://www.cathicolas.com/

You can also see more of my work at cathicolas.com, or find me on Audible.  

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or share it on Social Media.

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Seven-year-old Sara Crewe arrives at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies in London with her doting father, Captain Crewe. Raised in India, Sara is wealthy and imaginative. Miss Minchin fawns over Sara, primarily because of the family's immense wealth and there is nothing the head mistress of a boarding school loves more than wealth. Sara begins her first day of classes and the mean girls move in for the kill. 

I hope you have been enjoying these episodes as much as I enjoy bringing them to you. 

Reviews and shares make a huge difference. If you are enjoying these timeless stories, please leave a review wherever you listen. And pass the podcast along to a friend. 

To find out more about High Horse Press, go to https://www.cathicolas.com/

You can also see more of my work at cathicolas.com, or find me on Audible.  

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or share it on Social Media.

Thanks for listening.

This season we’ve got two titles from Frances Hodgson-Burnett. On Wednesdays, THE SECRET GARDEN and on Fridays, A LITTLE PRINCESS.

Today we meet Mary Lennox, described as “sickly, yellow-skinned and exceedingly disagreeable child.” And she was too. A cholera epidemic kills her parents and Mary is sent to Misselthwaite Manor where she begins the a whole new journey. 

I hope you have been enjoying these episodes as much as I enjoy bringing them to you. 

Reviews and shares make a huge difference. If you are enjoying these timeless stories, please leave a review wherever you listen. And pass the podcast along to a friend. 

To find out more about High Horse Press, go to https://www.cathicolas.com/

You can also see more of my work at cathicolas.com, or find me on Audible.  

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or share it on Social Media.

Thanks for listening.