Act 1 Part 1 Summary

In 1930s India, Flora is on a train. She narrates the journey in the form of a letter, concluding by describing the way in which she was met in a town called Jummapur by the president of the local Theosophical Society, Mr. Coomaraswami. As he shakes her hand and welcomes her, the action moves continuously to the cottage in which Flora is to live, and where Mr. Coomaraswami welcomes her again then quickly leaves, saying she needs some rest. He promises to take her on a picnic the following day.

As Flora describes the cottage, still in the form of a letter, her elderly sister Mrs. Swan and her biographer, Pike, read the letter. Their world takes place in the 1980s, and exists alongside Flora's world in the past. Flora's description of the cottage includes a reference to a servant, Nazrul...