The tortoiseshell cat

In the early months of 1912, a newly appointed English and foreign literature mistress, Gillian Parratt, steps into the regimented world of a prestigious girls’ school housed in a sprawling Georgian estate. Her days are filled with the chatter of fellow mistresses, the demanding expectations of the enigmatic headmistress Mrs. Lysaght, and endless exercises in grammar, classics, and morality that spill over into whispered lessons on the “Tree of Life.” The novel captures the intricate dance of ambition, propriety, and the subtle power struggles that animate the staffroom, all set against the backdrop of a London that feels simultaneously modern and steeped in tradition.

Through Gillian’s eyes, readers taste the dry humour of a classroom obsessed with finite verbs, the lingering grief of a father lost in Burma, and the mysterious rituals that punctuate the academic calendar. As she navigates Mrs. Lysaght’s erratic yet captivating lectures, the school’s rhythm begins to reveal hidden currents, hinting at a looming crisis that threatens the fragile order of the first term.