When I started the 24 Hour Readathon, I was partway through Miss Timmins’ School for Girls and intended to put it aside to read something short or easier, but I couldn’t put it aside. It’s a novel centred on a very specific, isolated time and space, which is one of those oddly specific story styles that I love. Miss Timmins’ is intensely atmospheric. The novel takes place during the monsoon season, mostly, and you can feel the claustrophobic restlessness through the story.

In some ways Miss Timmins’ is a mystery story. We know from the first couple pages that a person dies, and we spend most of the book trying to find out how it happens. In the meantime, however, there are sordid love affairs and SO MUCH TRAGEDY. And family secrets.

This is a bisexual book, by the way, not a lesbian one. Both love affairs are poignant, and yes, tragic.

I really enjoyed Miss Timmins’ and recommend it for anyone looking for a “literary” read or for a queer book that isn’t a coming out story.