Dickon Sowerby

The garden has been neglected for a decade, but it's not dead, just dormant.

With help from Dickon, a local boy who has an almost magical connection with nature and animals, Mary begins to restore the garden.

And as the garden comes back to life, so does Mary.

This is the novel's central metaphor, that psychological healing mirrors natural growth, that damaged children can restore themselves just as neglected gardens can revive with proper care.

This is revolutionary, a child healing another child, not through adult intervention, but through direct confrontation and practical activity.

Colin's transformation is even more dramatic than Mary's.

In the garden, working with Dickon and Mary, he discovers he can walk, can grow strong, can be healthy.

His illness was real in its effects, but psychological in its origins, caused by neglect, isolation, and the projection of adult fears onto him.