The Towers of Silence - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

The novel begins with the story of Barbie Batchelor, an old missionary schoolteacher, who, after years of service to the church, decides to take her pension and retire. She finds a place as a paying guest with Mabel Layton, a member of the aristocracy of the English in India, at Rose Cottage in Pankot. Barbie and Mabel become close. Late one night, Mabel tells Barbie that she will only go to Ranpur when she's buried, which Barbie interprets to mean that she wants to be buried in Ranpur, next to the grave of her late husband, James Layton.

Barbie is proud of her working class background and her simple Christianity, but she does her best to behave in a manner that makes upper-class Pankot comfortable. Unfortunately, they will never accept her as one of their own, treating her as a peculiar and unwanted intruder.

In 1942, Pankot society hears about the attacks on two English women in and near Mayapore (events that took place in the first novel of the series). Daphne Manners was gang raped by a mob and Edwina Crane was witness to the murder of her Indian colleague. Miss Crane, another missionary schoolteacher, was a good friend of Barbie's, and she is haunted by the attack and by Edwina's subsequent suicide by fire. Pankot society does not know what to make of Barbie and her insistence on sharing a picture, "The Jewel in the Crown" of the title, that Edwina gave her.

Pankot also rejects a theory, proposed by an officer passing through from Mayapore to Muzzafirabad, that the relationship between Daphne Manners and Hari Kumar, who has been arrested for the rape, was not a case of an innocent, inexperienced white girl being mesmerized by a crafty Indian, but rather that Daphne and Hari simply were in love, like any two young people.

Just as Daphne Manners dies while giving birth to the child conceived on the night of the rape, the Laytons announce the engagement of Susan Layton and Teddie Bingham. Just then, Teddie gets a new posting and is reassigned to Mirat. In Mirat he meets his new quarters-mate, Ronald Merrick.

Merrick, who is serving in army intelligence, briefs Teddie and his unit regarding the "Jiffs" or the Indians who are fighting on the side of the Japanese as part of the Indian National Army. Teddie and the other more traditional officers of the Indian Army can hardly believe their ears. They and their forebears have grown up with generations of these Indian soldiers, knowing intimately their villages and families, and they cannot believe that such disloyalty is possible.

Returning to his quarters, Teddie comes across a woman's bicycle, old and battered, accompanied by a symbol made of chalk marked on the veranda, like those made in connection with Hindu religious rites. Before he can ask Merrick about it, the bike has disappeared. However, Merrick suspects that it is the work of his old nemesis, Pandit Baba, who was present in Mayapore when Daphne Manners was attacked. Merrick was the police commissioner there and took brutal action against Hari Kumar and a group of his acquaintances. The bicycle belonged to Daphne and might have served as evidence had any charges been brought in the case.

Merrick informs Teddie that if he means to get married, then he had better do it quickly, because he would soon be sent to do battle against the Japanese. Teddie panics, not knowing what to do. Merrick solves his problem by arranging the loan of the sumptuous guest house belonging to the Nawab of Mirat and suggesting he then go on honeymoon nearby in the Nanoora Hills. Teddie's best friend, Tony Bishop, is down with jaundice, Merrick helps out again by being best man. The honeymoon is disappointing for Susan, who is let down by Teddie's sexual inexperience.

While these arrangements are being made, the Laytons are vacationing in Kashmir, where they encounter Lady Manners and Daphne's child Parvati. Sarah without her family's knowledge defies her family by going to visit their houseboat. But Lady Manners actually proves helpful when she suggests that by way of thanks for the loan of the guest house, a volume of the poems of Mohammed Gaffur would make a nice gift for the Nawab of Mirat, since the nawab is a descendant of the Urdu poet.

The Laytons return to Pankot to make preparations. Mildred disturbed by the fact that this step is being taken while her husband, Lt. Col. John Layton, is held prisoner in Germany. Barbie and Pankot society are also disappointed that such an important society wedding will be in Mirat and not Pankot. But they are consoled with the gossip of the momentous events: (1) Teddie's injury resulting from a stone being thrown at his car, (2) Susan's instinct to show obeisance to the Nawab, thus saving all from embarrassment at his being detained at the entrance, and (3) the appearance of Shalini Gupta Sen at the railway station when the couple are being seen off on their honeymoon and the scene she creates with her entreaties to Merrick which are later revealed to regard Hari's imprisonment.

Barbie, wanting to show her affection for Susan with a nice wedding-cum-21st birthday gift, buys a set of silver Apostle spoons and gives them to Sarah to pass on. Mabel, while going through some old clothes, comes upon a piece of cloth that remained from a christening gown. The fabric is embedded with woven butterflies, symbolically imprisoned in the material. She gives the piece to Barbie, who is quite taken with its fragility.

In order to make up for having the wedding out of town, Mildred throws a buffet luncheon at the Pankot Rifles officers' mess for Pankot society. Mabel and Barbie go together, but are efficiently separated from each other under Mildred's instructions. Barbie is puzzled that her gift of spoons is not displayed with the other wedding gifts.

Susan's pregnancy is announced and, several months later, news of Teddie's death arrives. While Sarah is in Calcutta visiting Merrick, who witnessed Teddie's death and was himself injured, Mabel Layton has a stroke and dies. Susan is witness to the old lady's death and the shock drives her into premature labor. Worried about the state of Mabel's soul, Barbie worms her way into the morgue at the hospital and thinks she sees the anguish of eternal torment on the face of her dead friend. She is then shocked to learn that Mabel will be buried in Pankot and not in Ranpur, as she had wished. She barges in on Mildred to plead for her friend's last wish, but Mildred rebukes her harshly for interfering and offers a vicious evaluation of her character. Mildred gives Barbie until the end of the month to vacate Rose Cottage.

Susan survives the difficult childbirth and so does her prematurely delivered son. Sarah returns from Calcutta and gives the report of Merrick's heroism in trying to save Teddie. Barbie moves in with the vicar and his wife, Arthur and Clarissa Peplow. Barbie tries hard to get back into the missionary service, but finds a position difficult to secure. She learns through Sarah that Mabel has left her an annuity in her will. Barbie is embarrassed by the gesture and predicts that Mildred will cause trouble over it.

Meanwhile, Susan's behavior is troubling. She seems not to be relating to her child in a maternal way. She seems often distracted and distant. One evening, remembering a fable about scorpions committing suicide when surrounded by fire told her by Barbie, Susan pours kerosene in a ring on the grass, puts her baby in the center and lights the fluid. The baby is quickly saved by a servant. However, it is now clear that there is something seriously wrong with Susan, and she is put under the care of a psychiatrist. Mildred blames Barbie for planting the idea in her mind and returns the Apostle spoons through Clarissa.

Barbie, deeply hurt by the insult, sends notes to Colonel Trehearne and Captain Coley saying that she intends to make a gift of silver to the 1st Pankot Rifles. She then sets off in search of Coley to deliver the goods. Arriving at Coley's bungalow in a rainstorm, Barbie gets no answer at the door. Finding it unlocked, she goes in to leave the gift inside. But hearing an odd sound, she investigates and comes upon the sight of Coley and Mildred Layton rutting furiously. Undetected by the lovers, she flees from the bungalow, but is caught in the rainstorm and falls seriously ill, coming down with bronchopneumonia.

Fenny is visiting from Calcutta and is gossiping with the Pankot women about recent events, Susan's recovery in the hospital, and the state of the household. Fenny suggests to Mildred that Sarah is under too much stress and should be allowed a vacation. Mildred turns viciously on Fenny, telling her that she cannot believe that she could try to fool her. Fenny does not know what Mildred is talking about until Mildred informs her that for the past two months, Sarah has not been using her sanitary napkins. Fenny realizes that Sarah is pregnant and that Jimmy Clark must have been responsible for it. Mildred assumed that Fenny already knew what the situation was. Fenny agrees to take Sarah away surreptitiously for a "D&C," their euphemism for an abortion.

With Sarah gone and Susan in hospital, Mildred decides to close Rose Cottage and move into Flagstaff House. Susan seems to be recovering under the care of psychiatrist Captain Samuels, the "Jew-boy trick-cyclist". Barbie, recovering from pneumonia but unable to speak above a whisper, finally donates the spoons to the regiment. She gets a letter from Calcutta, offering her a position as a teacher in Dibrapur, the site of Edwina Crane's horror.

Captain Coley informs Barbie that a trunk full of her things has been found stored in a shed at Rose Cottage and it had better be removed before Mildred finds out. Knowing that she will soon be leaving the Peplows and will have enough space of her own, she goes up to the vacant cottage to retrieve her trunk. There she encounters Ronald Merrick, who is in town for treatment at the local military hospital and has come in search of the Laytons; however, no one is currently in residence. Barbie is excited to finally meet Merrick and asks him about Mayapore. She opens her trunk and presents him with her copy of the painting, "The Jewel in the Crown". Merrick recognizes it as one he saw among Edwina Crane's things and accepts it gratefully.

Barbie has the tonga-wallah load the large trunk onto the tonga she is travelling in. Merrick worries that the load is too heavy, especially on such a steep road down from Rose Cottage. Barbie sets off anyway as it begins to rain. The dirt road becomes slick and the tonga-wallah loses control, dumping Barbie and the trunk in a ditch. Barbie is physically and mentally injured in the accident and ends up at a sanitarium in Ranpur. Her view is of the Parsees' towers of silence of the title. Sarah visits her, but she cannot seem to get through. Barbie dies just as the atomic bomb is exploded over Hiroshima in August 1945.