The Shuttle (novel) lay their coronets, and incidentally their hearts, at the feet of the all-conquering American Girl.’ The building and grounds of ‘Stornham Court’ were modelled after Great Maytham Hall, near Rolvenden in Kent, which had a beautiful garden that Bettina starts restoring in "The Shuttle" and which also inspired the titular garden of "The Secret Garden". Angelica Shirley Carpenter writes in "In the Garden, Essays in Honor of Frances Hodgson Burnett" that Burnett's depiction of Sir Nigel's abuse of Rosalie mirrors the abuse that Burnett herself suffered at the hands of her second husband Stephen: "All the classic signs of abuse,
The Secret Speech (novel) the editing is slipshod", stating that "phrases such as "[l]owering his feet, the floor seemed to move" nag like the throbbing of a toothache"; he does, however, recognise that "this is a novel that really, really wants to be a movie". The Secret Speech (novel) The Secret Speech is the second novel in a trilogy by British author Tom Rob Smith; it was released in April 2009. The book features a repeat appearance of Leo Stepanovich Demidov, the protagonist of Smith's first book, "Child 44" (2008). "The Secret Speech" is a further exploration of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin created.