Book Review: Miss Timmins’ School For Girls 


by Anne Pyburn , December 29, 2011

Charu is a loved and sheltered 20-year-old, circumspect and shy; her father’s professional ruin and her facial birthmark have made her an analytical loner. When she takes a position at a girls’ school in Panchgani, her Brahmin parents believe she’ll be safe and sound, tucked away from the drugs, sex, and rock `n’ roll that pervade Indian youth culture in the 1970s. It never occurs to them that she’ll end up a murder suspect.

For her part, Charu is afraid Miss Timmins’ School will be a continuation of her childhood and adolescence as a wallflower. The reader can feel the weight of caste and tradition weighing on her shoulders, relentless as the monsoon rains. But even in this backwater, there’s a small hippie contingent, and Charu falls in love with freedom, rock music, THC, and two people at once. Most especially, she’s drawn to her charismatic and controversial colleague Moira Prince.

The two begin an intense affair, which confuses Charu no end. She knew her marriage prospects were nil due to the birthmark but hadn’t expected to find herself experiencing ecstatic lovemaking with another woman. Her desire for Moira conflicts resoundingly with her conventional sense of self.

The many layers of religious and social complexity that mingle in Indian culture are more than a backdrop for these characters—they’re the very air they breathe. Separating from one’s parents and sorting out a new job would be plenty to deal with, never mind finding yourself unexpectedly in love, but Charu’s rolling with it, teaching Shakespeare with flair and loving her wild evenings out, finding her way through her own complex family issues.

The repressed mess that is Miss Timmins’ School comes to a head one monsoon night. Charu, her lover, their principal, and three of the brightest girls in the school are all out past curfew. One of them doesn’t come back alive.