The Chinese Garden

A “very intelligent, sensitive, and compelling” novel of adolescent rebellion and sexual awakening at a girls’ boarding school (Anthony Burgess).   Set in a repressive British girls’ boarding school in the late 1920s—where not only sexuality but femininity is squashed—Rosemary Manning’s “wonderful” 1962 novel is the coming-of-age story of sixteen-year-old Rachel, a sensitive, bright, and innocent student ( The Guardian ). Rachel finds refuge from the Spartan conditions, strict regime, fierc