The Abstinence Teacher is a wry suburban comedy which takes a scandalous and satirical look at modern American culture and the influence of the Christian right. Told through the stories of two very different people whose lives intertwine through a series of scandals, it is a witty chronicle of life in the world’s remaining superpower.

“Some people enjoy it.” That’s all Sex Ed teacher Ruth Ramsey says, but the fact that her comment refers to oral sex causes a scandal to erupt in the suburban community of Stonewood Heights as resurgent moral puritanism strives to assert itself in every aspect of life. It’s not long before the local evangelical church catches wind of her supposed misdemeanour, and soon she finds herself teaching a pro-abstinence curriculum that shows quite breathtaking disregard for the facts of sexuality.

Meanwhile Tim Mason, a recovering addict, soccer coach and born-again Christian, sets himself on a collision course with Ruth by leading her daughter’s football team in prayer after a game. Ruth furiously breaks up the proceedings and berates him, while Tim’s energetic young pastor is thrilled to have the makings of a moral crusade on his hands.

But in a novel that finds the subtle contradictions and ambiguities of society and the human beings who comprise it so deliciously intriguing, all is not as it seems. Ruth is surprised to find herself unable to be as angry with Tim as she thinks she should be, and starts to wonder whether she just might, in fact, have feelings for the unhappily married man with a penchant for turning up on her doorstep late at night, lame excuses in tow. Even as he is caught up in the tide of religious fervour which grips the town, Tim begins to question the foundations on which his rebuilt life has been laid, and whether religion really holds the answers for him that he was hoping it did. Soon both their faiths are put to the test by temptation in a hilarious and penetrating critique of modern mores.

The Abstinence Teacher is a scathing, witty and brilliantly observed portrayal of a society in which people are simply too afraid to admit that they are unsure. At the same time it is an understated love story between two people thrust into the ideological limelight who realise that it isn’t where they want to be. It poignantly informs us that something must be wrong with our priorities when even the most innocuous of circumstances erupt into moral warfare, while our real problems go ever unspoken.