The Chatham School Affair

Narrated by elderly Henry Griswald, Thomas Cook’s mystery novel, The Chatham School Affair (1996), centers on the shattering events that upended a small town near Cape Cod in 1927. Henry was a sophomore at Chatham School that year, and through a series of extended flashbacks, he recalls the arrival of a beautiful new teacher and her scandalous romance with a fellow instructor. As Henry’s narrative unfolds, he alludes to looming disaster, creating an atmosphere of tension and doom, until, reaching the end of his tale, he confesses his own part in the deadly affair.

When he was a young student at Chatham School, Henry Griswald considered his New England village dull and claustrophobic and longed to escape for adventures unknown. Some 50 years later, he still lives in Chatham, having settled into a comfortable career as a lawyer. The school itself has long since “closed, its door locked, its windows boarded … all its former reputation by then reduced to a dark and woeful legacy.” With the property now for sale, Henry’s thoughts turn to his days as a student at the school and the unforgettable year that began rich in romance but ended in catastrophe.

In Henry’s memories, it is the summer of 1926. At age 15, Henry prefers books to socializing, immersing himself in fictional worlds full of romance and swashbuckling adventure. Mild-mannered and weary, his father, the headmaster of Chatham school, advises his son to accept that “life is inadequate.” This only sparks outrage in Henry, who declares, “I felt a malevolent wave of contempt for everything he stood for … I felt an absolute determination never to be like my father, never so pathetic, nor so beaten down.”



Enter Elizabeth Channing, the school’s new art teacher. As the daughter of a travel writer, she’s been to the far corners of the globe, which adds an air of bohemian intrigue to her dark-haired beauty. The sight of her enthralls Henry, to whom “she looked like someone from an earlier century, one of those women we’d read about in Mr. Reed’s literature class …, wild and passionately driven.” Henry’s father arranges for her to move into Milford cottage, on the far side of Black Pond, and for Chatham’s English teacher—the aforementioned Mr. Reed—to drive her to the school every day.

Leland Reed has a wife, Abigail, as well as a daughter, but in young Henry’s estimation, the Reed’s marriage is loveless and dreary. When a warm rapport develops between Mr. Reed and Miss Channing, it raises eyebrows across the town and kindles Henry’s romantic imagination. He sees them as soulmates. Committed as she is to the belief that “life is best lived at the edge of folly,” Miss Channing is naturally drawn to the free-spirited Mr. Reed, and Henry is drawn to them both. Miss Channing captivates Henry with stories of her exotic travels, and after Mr. Reed begins building a boat, Henry spends his free time helping with the project. The name of the boat is the Elizabeth.

A young Irish girl named Sarah Doyle lives with the Griswalds and does household chores to earn her keep. Because she is illiterate, her prospects for anything more than a life of ongoing drudgery are dim. Like Henry, she dreams of escaping her tedious circumstances, and the teens become confidants on the subject of their discontent. Feeling that he is “absolutely in league with her” against the “strictures and limitations” imposed on them, Henry decides to help Sarah. He speaks with Miss Chatham, and she agrees to give Sarah reading lessons. Meanwhile, as the relationship between his teachers intensifies, Henry believes that they also yearn to be free of the “strictures” that keep them apart and that, perhaps, they will sail away together on the Elizabeth.



Well aware of the rumors circulating throughout Chatham, Abigail Reed shares Henry’s suspicion that her husband intends to abandon her for the new art teacher. When Henry appears at the Reed’s home one afternoon, looking for Mr. Reed, Mrs. Reed coldly informs him that she doesn’t know the whereabouts of her husband, implying he may be with Miss Channing. Henry awkwardly turns to leave, but suddenly resolves to intervene on behalf of his teachers—“to be the real hero of their romance.” Looking her in the eye, Henry says, “’Let them go, Mrs. Reed. They want to be free.’”

Shortly after Henry departs, Abigail gets into her car and, guided by jealousy and desperation, speeds off in the direction of Milford cottage. Miss Channing, Sarah, and Henry are sitting beside Black Pond, engaged in another reading lesson, when Abigail Reed’s car careens into them, striking Sarah before it lurches into the water and sinks. Neither Sarah nor Abigail survives the violent incident.

While it’s obvious that these deaths are not Miss Channing’s doing, in the court of public opinion she is guilty of “lethal wantonness” and must be punished accordingly. A trial ensues. After numerous witnesses attack Miss Channing’s character, the judge sentences her to three years in prison for committing adultery. She dies of illness while serving her sentence. In the meantime, the authorities declare that Leland Reed is an unfit parent and take his daughter away from him. He subsequently takes his own life.



The Chatham School affair has “lingered on forever” in Henry’s mind, and now, from the vantage point of maturity, he explains his own role in the tragedy and why his conscience is scarred with guilt. Moments after Mrs. Reed’s car plunged into the pond on that fateful day, Henry dived under the water and discovered that she was still alive. Because he was young and devoted to the ideals of romance and true love, he held the car door shut against her, determined to clear the way for Mr. Reed and Miss Channing to be together. He then returned to the spot beside the pond where Miss Channing was cradling Sarah and reported that Mrs. Reed had not survived the accident.

The Chatham School Affair received the 1997 Edgar Award for Best Novel of the year from the Mystery Writers of America.