Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924). Novelist and children's writer, Hodgson Burnett's reputation rests on her three famous children's books, Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden.Frances Hodgson was born in Manchester in November 1849, one of five children of a well-to-do manufacturer. After the death of her father the family fell upon hard times and in 1865 they emigrated to America. Frances, however, was not to forget about her life in Manchester and her first novel, Lass o' Lowries (1877) tells of working-class life in Manchester.It was while deciding on the lay-out for her garden at her home in Long Island that Frances conceived and wrote The Secret Garden (1911), probably her best and most enduring work. In it the garden acts as a means of health and as a symbol of the growing personality. She continued to write up until her death in 1924, a few weeks short of her seventy-fifth birthday.