As a fast maturing young woman, Penelope finds herself in increasing trouble at her very traditional grammar school for girls where the strap and cane are in regular use. She is punished by stern lady teachers, while at home she feels her Aunt's hairbrush and her Uncle's slipper. But she also learns to exercise the power of her own sexuality with a series of male and female lovers and eventually becomes a disciplinarian and authority figure in her own right. Notable characters in Penelope's Tale include her hard-handed Aunt Hilda, her bratty cousin James, Lillian Partridge, her best friend and first lover, her austere Headmistress, Mrs Latimer, Penelope's first boyfriend, the sexually athletic and sadistic Roger Douglas, the glamorous and self-assured Philippa Markham, and some of the juvenile offenders whom Penelope takes in hand as a young probation officer. As the tale unfolds, Penelope's audience (a young man she meets in a teashop) becomes increasingly part of the story.