Marsha Norman she could not have written it. According to an interview in "The New York Times", "Ms. Norman stayed away from the theater and turned to screenplays, including a 1986 movie adaptation of " 'Night, Mother" that starred Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft and failed to impress critics. She was in high demand in Hollywood, though not always for films that she liked, or that studios would approve." Norman wrote the book and lyrics for the musical "The Secret Garden", an adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel "The Secret Garden", and won the Tony Award for Best Book in 1991.
Frances Hodgson Burnett manager. "That Lass o' Lowrie's" was published to good reviews, and the rights were sold for a British edition. Shortly after the publication of the book, she joined her husband in D.C., where she established a household and friends. She continued to write, becoming known as a rising young novelist. Despite the difficulties of raising a family and settling into a new city, Burnett began work on "Haworth's", which was published in 1879, as well as writing a dramatic interpretation of "That Lass o' Lowrie's" in response to a pirated stage version presented in London. After a visit to Boston