Goodbye, My Rose Garden is.... cliche. It's the story of a maid falling for her lady and it reads like something a character in another story would reference. It is also fucking amazing.
The art is so good and the characters offer their own substance and backstories, creating a genuinely compelling narrative. You have Hanako, the Japanese aspiring writer who traveled across the sea to England in hopes that it's society would be more welcoming to the idea of a female author, and her love-to-be, Lady Alice, a kindhearted noble who is stricken with heartache over the way society is unaccepting of her sexuality and how it has scorned her in the past.
They each have their own thing going on that supplements the story and reacts to the others deal. They're characters that stand on their own and supplement the story rather than existing because they are in a story.
The story itself actually tackles queerness being scorned in its setting and even uses real life queer authors and their stories to give further depth to our characters. For example, Lady Alice was shown taking great interest in the story of Oscar Wildes' trial and sentencing because she herself was experiencing scorn for her romantic feelings. It created this sense of realness to me that helped me buy into the protagonists struggle as well as how different side characters reacted. You had some characters who were in the know and covered for their newfound queer hatchlings as well as other characters who reacted with scorn and bigotry as was normal for the time.
I should also mention this manga very much feels like reading a saucy romance between the maid and the master. Lots of heartache by the sea and thrilling countdowns to sunset. Personally I love that shit but it can be a downside for others. Overall I give this story a solid 9/10, it was a refreshing tale after a string of mid stories and it really reinvigorated my Yuri reading.
