The Stone of Chastity

Its in my mind to put an end to this heathen wickedness thats stalking abroad through Gillenham. Its in my mind to terrify that evil man from his morrows sinful doings.Well be going to Old Manor then?Not yet said Mrs. Pye grimly. We go first to the village. To rouse the women . . .Professor Pounce arrives in the idyllic village of Gillenham along with his sister-in-law his nephew Nicholas and Carmen his voluptuous assistant in single-minded pursuit of the Stone of Chastity a stepping stone in the local stream reputed to trip up impure women. His interest is cold-bloodedly scientific but his researches including putting the village women to the test and documenting the results are taken rather more personally by some including the Vicars wife who enlists the Boy Scouts to help suppress his efforts and stern Mrs. Pye possessed with the soul of an inquisitor. Ultimately its young Nicholas who must try to assuage the villagers outrage all the while coping with the repercussions of his own amorous impulses.The Stone of Chastity first published in 1940 and inexplicably out of print for decades is perhaps the deftest (and daftest) of Margery Sharps many dazzling witty social comedies.Miss Margery Sharps witticisms lift the otherwise flat and unprofitable life of the village of Gillenham to the level of a bubbling champagne-glass full of laughter New York Times