Tom's Midnight Garden (1958)

Tom is staying with his aunt and uncle while his brother is in bed with the measles. At first he dreads it because their apartment - one of several in an old house - has no garden to play in, but he discovers that the grandfather clock in the downstairs hall chimes to its own version of time and opens the back door onto a garden of the past. He wanders that magic garden every night and there meets and befriends Hatty. Time in the garden passes differently, and Tom discovers that the magic won't last forever.
Opening a door to another, magical land is right up there on my list of excellent plot devices, and I *loved* this book when I read it a few years ago, and wish that I'd discovered it as a kid. The twist at the end is very satisfying, too. Charlie wasn't quite as enchanted with it as I am, but he still enjoyed it (or at least he humored me by saying so). ( )

Sent to stay with his Uncle Allan and Aunt Gwen when his brother has the measles, Tom Long is bitterly disappointed and unhappy at the prospect of a dismal holiday spent at their flat, which takes up one floor of an old Victorian house. Lying awake late at night, he is puzzled when he hears the grandfather clock in the lobby striking thirteen, and going downstairs to investigate, he slips out of the house and into a mysterious garden that was not there during the daytime. As it transpires, Tom has slipped into the past, into the Victorian age, when the house was still a great mansion. Here, in this midnight garden, he meets and befriends Hatty, an orphaned girl come to stay in the house, and one of the only people in the past who can see him. They have many wonderful times together in the garden, but all things must come to an end, and one night Tom finds that he can no longer enter the midnight garden - he can no longer travel to the past. In despair, he thinks that he has lost Hatty. But has he...?

A haunting and brilliant tale, Tom's Midnight Garden is a book I first encountered as a young girl, reading it, loving it, and then, despite its story staying with me through the years, forgetting its title. I can remember many times, thinking of that odd, enchanted story I used to love about the boy, the grandfather clock that struck thirteen, and the nighttime garden. This was before computers were ubiquitous, and I wasn't sure how to track it down. I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to ask a children's librarian, but in any case, I happened across it by accident one day, in my early twenties, snapped it up, and reread it. It was like coming home. Originally published in 1958, Tom's Midnight Garden won the Carnegie Medal that year, and it is not difficult to see why. It is an almost perfect book, addressing the pain of childhood, the joy and difficulty of friendship, and the nature of time and of dreaming in perceptive, sensitive ways. The conclusion, in which Tom discovers that old Mrs. Bartholomew, who is his aunt and uncle's landlady, is actually Hatty, grown old, and that it is her dreams of her own youth that have allowed him to travel to the past, always sends a shiver down my spine. They say the past is always with us, and I think that this is because we carry it with us - in our memories, and in our dreams. Philippa Pearce has chosen a unique way of exploring that idea, and she has done it brilliantly! Beautifully conceived, beautifully told, and beautifully written - this is a true classic, and is one I enjoy rereading from time to time, since rediscovering it. ( )

Wow! Wow! I can honestly say I am totally blown away. This is one of the best books ever written. My heart is pounding and I am short of breath. When I finished i just sat in silence for ages quite stunned. THe story will live with me for a long time, always a good sign.

I was given this book by a distant relative who i think was getting rid of it. It was just sat on my shelf doing nothing. A short book I could squeeze in between reading two 'proper' books. So glad I did

Please please read this. Tom has been sent away to live with his boring aunt and uncle in a dull flat cause his brother Peter has measles. Tom is bored and listless the only thing of interest is a grandfather clock in the hallway. When he is lying awake one night he hears the clock striking 13. Getting up to investigate he finds a mysterious garden at the back of the house that is definitely not there during the day. Many adventures follow with a girl he meets in the garden and who seems to be the only one to be able to see Tom. We find out the secret of the garden and Hatty at the end of the novel. A multi-layered novel that is a must read for young adults and adults alike. Also explores the nature of time, imagination and growing up.

154 pages, edition printed in 1972. 31st place on Waterstone's favourite children's book poll in 1997. ( )

Evokes the past, and childhood, and the notion of generations in a thought provoking and sensitive way but what really remains for me are the feelings and the imagery of this magical yet quiet book that tells an age old story of boy meets girl and the old and the young. ( )

This book stuck with me long after it was first read to me by my wonderful school librarian. This was one of those fine books that was read to us during our library time in my recollection, stretching out the suspense day by day and leaving us at the edge of our cushion-padded seats. I remembered most keenly the clock striking thirteen, and the strange way time was both past, present, and future all melded into one with each influencing the other as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It left a mark on me at the time, and a far larger one than I even realized until I reread it as an adult.

[b: Tom's Midnight Garden|543086|Tom's Midnight Garden|Philippa Pearce|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348198004s/543086.jpg|530403] falls into the category of classic children's books that are truly endless. It reads almost like a fairy tale, easing you into a world so slowly that without realizing it you are there with Tom living more in fantasy than in reality, the dullness of day to day eclipsed by the magical world of imagination. It's a ghost story, a mystery, a beautiful sci-fi tale of time slips and illusion that recalls back a childhood few of us have now lived with such striking detail that it tugs at your very heartstrings. This is a beautiful book, and the ending is among the most beautiful in literature that I have yet experienced.

I highly recommend this book be reread by anyone who grew up with it, and to be read by those who didn't. Don't worry about being too old, it will only take you an hour or so to read... but in that time you'll live at least two lifetimes, and hopefully be left with a smile on your face. ( )