Genre
Children's Fiction, Fantasy Fiction
Setting and Context
The setting is a converted Victorian house in a small village outside Cambridge, England. The time is 1957, and also Victorian times.
Narrator and Point of View
The point of view is that of Tom, the protagonist of the story.
Tone and Mood
The tone is almost mystical and it is also secretive. The mood is carefree and exciting.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Tom Long is the protagonist. There is no specific antagonist.
Major Conflict
There is no real conflict except at the end of Tom's stay when he cannot find the garden and is alternately upset with Hatty and sad that he cannot find her.
Climax
Mrs Bartholemew reaveals that she is Hatty, and that Tom was going back to times in her life that actually occurred.
Foreshadowing
The clock striking thirteen every night foreshadows Tom's ability to slip back in time into Hatty's life at the house in Victorian times.
Understatement
Hatty is rather understated in her descriptions of Barty, given the strength of her feelings for him and the fact that they ultimately get married.
Allusions
The story alludes to the 1950s tendency to convert sprawling stately homes from the Victorian era into multiple family units.
Imagery
The imagery is very mystical in nature. The garden is described in an almost dreamlike way so that the reader is able to feel its magic for themselves.
Paradox
Tom is taken upstairs to apologize to Mrs Bartholomew but she is not expecting an apology from Tom; she wants to apologize to him because she is/was Hatty, and because she dreamed about her wedding the night before the garden was not available for Tom to visit.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between what Hatty is dreaming about in her childhood and the scenario that Tom is able to slip back to.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
