Backwater opens in late August 1893, after Miriam has returned from Germany. The book focuses on her time as a teacher at the school run by the Perne sisters in Banbury Park (Finsbury Park in reality), a period of roughly fifteen months, until she leaves just before the Christmas holiday in December 1894.
As George H. Thomson has written:
Backwater is more conventional than Pointed Roofs in its representation of time and events. The opening scenes do not dominate the book, the use of recall is limited, and the tendency to generalize in the manner of conventional narrative is apparent, especially during Miriam’s last term. The reason is primarily psychological. A dreary desperation, underlying the ups and downs of Miriam’s conscious life, undermines her vitality and infects the narrative, depriving it of sharply-focused, elaborated highlights. The impression we receive faithfully reflects Miriam’s state of mind at this time.
Chapter 1. Miriam and her mother meet with the three Perne sisters — Jennie the eldest, Deborah the middle sister, and Haddie the youngest (corresponding to the Ayre sisters in Richardson’s own experience) — about a job as a teacher at their small school for girls in Banbury Park (Finsbury Park). The sisters enthusiastically offer Miriam the job and she and her mother return home, travelling in to Piccadilly Circus and then riding atop an omnibus back to Putney. They arrive home and talk about the dance the Hendersons will be hosting in a few days.
Chapter 2. Meg Wedderburn plays a recital for the family on violin. The next morning, Miriam is rolling cigarettes with her father’s machine and decides to smoke one. At the party that evening, she plays the piano and then walks, talks, and dances with a German/Jewish man, Max Sonnenheim, ignoring Ted Burton, who fancies her.
Chapter 3. Now settled at the Perne’s school, Miriam reflects on her reading during a teatime. They discuss two students, Eunice Dupont and Polly Allen, who Miss Deborah has seen running in the park without their hats (“Tomboys”). Jennie recommends she read an article on education in the Evening Standard. Miriam reads about “The Royal commission on Education,” realizing that she’s never tried to read a newspaper before.
Chapter 4. Miriam in her classroom. On the following Sunday, she sees Grace and Florrie Bloom in church, and later talks about her religious doubts with Haddie Perne. Haddie lends her a book on the Holy Communion, which she later reads with misgivings.
Chapter 5. The second term begins after Christmas. Miriam reflects on the sacrifices she is making because of her family’s financial situation (“The thing to remember, to keep m mind all the time, was to save money”).
Chapter 6. Miriam travels to Paddington Station to meet Julia Doyle, a new teacher. She discusses her family’s money problems with Haddie. Spring term starts. Miriam visits a circulating library and reads some popular novels. Just before the summer term ends, she presides over the first- and second-class’s written examination in English history. She visits Grace Broom, who is ill at home.
Chapter 7. Back home on her six-week summer holiday, Miriam is pampered by Harriet and her husband Gerald. Her sister Eve arrives. The sisters decide to take their mother to Brighton for a rest.
Chapter 8. While in Brighton, Miriam walks with Mr. Parrow, a London man the Hendersons have met in Brighton, to Ovingdean. The Hendersons see Mr. Parrow and Mr. Green, another Brighton acquaintance, off to London. They then spend a quiet few days by themselves.
Chapter 9. On the last day of her holiday, Miriam meets Mr. Parrow at the Crystal Palace to see the fireworks display.
Chapter 10. The fall term begins. Miriam tells the Pernes that she plans to leave at the end of the term. She reflects on teaching and her attachment to Julia Doyle. The book concludes with her last day teaching at Wordsworth House.