Lottie and Lisa

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Lottie and Lisa (original German title Das doppelte Lottchen "The duplicated Lottie") is a 1949 novel by Erich Kästner, which originally started out during WWII as an aborted movie scenario, about twin girls separated at birth who meet at a summer camp. It has been adapted into film four times (see below) most notably as The Parent Trap in 1961 and 1998.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Two nine-year-old girls—rude Luise Palfy from Vienna, and respectful shy Lotte Körner from Munich—meet on a summer camp in Seebühl. Lisa has curly hair; Lotte wears braids. Otherwise, they look alike.

They have never seen each other before, but soon find out that they are twins. It turns out that their parents divorced, each keeping one of the girls. The two girls decide that it was unfair that neither of them has ever been told that she is a twin, or that her other parent is still living. They decided to trade places at the end of the summer so that Lotte will have a chance to get to know her father and Luise will get to meet her mother. Lotte makes her hair curly, and Luise ties hers in ponytails. And both go off to where they have never been before. The adventure begins.

While many adults are surprised at the changes in each of the girls as they arrive home from camp ("Lotte" has suddenly forgotten how to cook, gets in a fight at school, and becomes a terrible student, while "Luise'" has begun to keep a close eye on the housekeepers bookkeeping, will no longer eat her favorite food, and becomes a model student), no one suspects that the girls are not who they claim to be.

When Lotte (pretending to be Luise) finds out that her father is planning to remarry, she becomes very ill and stops writing to her sister in Munich.

Meanwhile, Lotte's mother comes across a picture of the two girls that was taken while they were at summer camp. She quickly realizes what has happened and Luise tells her the entire story. The discovery turns out to have come just in time. The girls' mother calls her ex-husband in Vienna to tell him what has happened and to find out why Lotte has stopped writing. When she hears that her daughter is ill, she and Luise immediately fly to Vienna to be with her.

The four of them (mother, father, Luise and Lotte) are still in Vienna for the girls' birthday. The girls tell their parents that they don't need any presents on this birthday or ever again as long as they don't have to be separated again. The parents talk it over and realize that they are still in love and decide to get married.