Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

The central motif of the midnight garden enhances the novel’s exploration of time, childhood, and friendship. A portal from Tom’s era to the Victorian period, it is a liminal space where the past and present intertwine. The garden’s appearance at midnight when the clock strikes 13 signals its non-conformity to the laws of conventional time. Tom’s experiences there are often non-linear, illustrated when he sees a tree felled by lightning and, the following night, realizes that the tree is standing again. Tom also glimpses Hatty as a much younger, newly orphaned girl on one night but never sees this version of her again. In this instance, the journey back in time seems to be triggered by Tom’s empathy for Hatty and curiosity about why her parents left her in the guardianship of her cruel aunt. The incident suggests that events in the garden are influenced by emotion rather than chronology.

Tom’s adventures in the garden symbolize childhood curiosity and imagination, while the garden itself becomes a symbol of freedom for him. The expansive outside space is a playground for the protagonist, serving as a release from the confines of the Kitsons’ sterile flat.