Basis of the classic German film "Maedchen in Uniform", "The Child Manuela" chronicles the tragic life of the young girl Manuela. Her early life is almost idyllic, until the loss of her beloved mother. Manuela latches onto the mother of a boy who's courting her, and is devastated when she's sent off to boarding school by her father. Soon Manuela becomes enamored with one of the instructors, Fräulein von Bernburg, and finds her true nature awakening. Playing the male part in a school play gives Manuela strength to declare her love for Fräulein von Bernburg, but this brings about her downfall. The movie "Maedchen in Uniform" centers only on the events at the boarding school, and actually has a different ending. One of the earliest of the lesbian schoolgirl novels, "The Child Manuela" is one of the 100 Best Gay and Lesbian Novels, as selected by the Publishing Triangle.