Pointed Roofs opens the day before Miriam Henderson and her father are to depart for Germany. George H. Thomson, whose A Reader’s Guide to Dorothy Richardson’s Pilgrimage and Notes on Pilgrimage: Dorothy Richardson Annotated are the most complete guides to the full novel, dates this as 2 March 1893. As Thomson notes, “… in most of the individual books comprising Pilgrimage, and certainly in Pointed Roofs, a precise chronological substructure underpins the subjective surface of the narrative. Richardson wrote with the calendar before her.” This and subsequent plot summaries of the books of Pilgrimage, draws principally from Thomson’s work.
At the same time, Pointed Roofs embodies Richardson’s approach to narrative, with generous use of subjectively-chosen details and Miriam’s own thoughts and emotions, both immediate and reflective. Thus, even to describe what happens in the book as plot is perhaps misleading and goes directly against what Richardson intended. For a reader encountering Pilgrimage for the first time, however, understanding the basic sequence of events can help make sense of the narrative flow.
Chapter 1. Miriam prepares to depart to Germany, where she has obtained a post as an English teacher in a girl’s boarding school.
Chapter 2. Having crossed by steamer from Harwich, Miriam and her father travel by train through the Netherlands and Germany.
Chapter 3. Miriam observes music practice at the school and reflects on her first days.
Chapter 4. Miriam recalls her first English lesson at the school and her relief at finding she can handle the challenge.
Chapter 5. Miriam makes her first visit to Sunday service at a German (Lutheran) church and compares it with the English service at the local Anglican church.
Chapter 6. Miriam reflects on the school’s routines. She finds the Saturday walks in Hanover, with Mademoiselle chatting with the students in French, tiresome and feels powerless to help them.
Chapter 7. A poetry reading with Fraulein Pfaff and visit to the baths.
Chapter 8. A visit from Pastor Pahmann and a game of charades. The school makes a visit to a Catholic church in Hoddenheim.
Chapter 9. Miriam has a long talk with Pastor Lahmann, which angers Fraulein Pfaff.
Chapter 10. June. A warm day, followed by a night of thunder storms. Miriam awakens the next day in a mood of ecstatic happiness.
Chapter 11. The students and teachers take a trip to a country inn for tea.
Chapter 12. Late June-early July. Fraulein Pfaff discusses Miriam’s summer plans and Miriam realizes she lacks the funds to stay. There is gossip about Mademoiselle, the French teacher, who leaves soon after under some suspicion. Miriam departs for home by the night train. 158
“Endings,” Thomson writes, “are one of the conventional elements of narrative Richardson from the first rejects. Endings mean plot: ‘Plot, nowadays, save the cosmic plot, is inexcusable. Lollipops for children.'” This is one reason why Richardson saw the individual books of Pilgrimage as chapters of a whole rather than stand-alone novels.