Lisa and Lottie

Lisa and Lottie

One of earliest German editions, c. 1949
Author	Erich Kästner
Original title	Das doppelte Lottchen
Translator	Cyrus Brooks (United States and Canada since 1962) Anthea Bell (United Kingdom and Australia since 2014)
Illustrator	Walter Trier
Genre	Children's novel
Publication date	1949
Publication place	Germany
Published in English	c.1962 as Lottie and Lisa c.1969 as Lisa and Lottie c.2014 as The Parent Trap

Lisa and Lottie, published in the United Kingdom and Australia as The Parent Trap, (original German title: Das doppelte Lottchen, "The Double Lottie") is a 1949 German children's novel by Erich Kästner. The book is about identical twin girls whose parents separated them in infancy upon divorcing, only to reunite at a summer camp years later before switching places.

The book originates from a film scenario Kästner developed during World War II that was never produced. In 1942, when he was briefly allowed by the Nazi authorities to work as a screenwriter, he proposed the plot to Josef von Báky, under the title The Great Secret, but the Nazis once again forbade him to work. After the war, Kästner wrote his idea into the book Das doppelte Lottchen, which was illustrated by Walter Trier.

A successful novel, Das doppelte Lottchen has been adapted for the screen multiple times, most notably Disney's 1961 American film The Parent Trap starring Hayley Mills, its sequels and 1998 remake starring Lindsay Lohan, and other localized versions.

In 1962, Cyrus Brooks translated Das doppelte Lottchen into English as Lottie and Lisa (later as Lisa and Lottie),^[1] an edition still published in the United States and Canada.

In 2014, the book was faithfully retranslated into English by Anthea Bell, featuring Walter Trier's illustrations and republished in the United Kingdom and Australia by Pushkin Press as The Parent Trap, after Disney's adaptation.^[2] In 2020, Australian actress Ruby Rees recorded an unabridged narration of Bell's translation for Bolinda.^[3]