(The real Jeanette had this on her gym bag.) Despite repeated attempts to fit in and win prizes, Jeanette comes up short: an Easter egg diorama of Brunhilda confronting her father, a scene from “A Street Car Named Desire” in pipe cleaners, an embroidered cushion cover featuring Bette Davis in “Now Voyager,” all failed to win the expected accolades. In the novel, Jeanette creates a sampler for her sewing class that reads: THE SUMMER IS ENDED AND WE ARE NOT YET SAVED. Her discussions of hell and redemption seem to have been off-putting to other students and teachers. Jeanette was an outsider, too, and writes of her school days with some humor. Her mother was a leader in their church, spoke with conviction and authority, and was respected by the members of their circle even if she didn’t have many friends to speak of. Novel Jeanette seems not to have had a problem with this.

Both Jeanettes were adopted, and it seems that both Jeanettes’ mothers wished to groom their daughters to become missionaries. The main character, also named Jeanette, tells her story in retrospect and focuses on her adolescent and early teen years, which seem to have occurred in the early 1970s. In this case, the author struggles to reconcile religion, family and sexual preference. As with my previous review, The Golden Notebook, an underlying theme is alienation, a breaking up of the whole person and an attempt at putting it all back together again. 'The most interesting writer I have read in twenty years.Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is Jeanette Winterson’s autobiographical novel about her upbringing by an evangelical Christian mother in England and her coming out as a lesbian. 'Many consider her to be the best living writer in this language.' Evening Standard 'She is a master of her material, a writer great talent.' Muriel Spark 'An explosively imaginative writer.' The London Free Press As good as Poe: it dares you to laugh and stares you down.' The New York Review of Books 'The overwhelming impression of her work is one of remarkable self-confidence, and she evidently thrives on risk. Winterson's voice, with its idiosyncratic wit and sensitivity, is one you've never heard before.' Ms. 'If Flannery O'Connor and Rita Mae Brown had collaborated on the coming-out story of a young British girl in the 1960s, maybe they would have approached the quirky and subtle hilarity of Jeanette Winterson's autobiographical first novel. by employing quirky anecdotes, which are told with romping humor, and by splicing various parables into the narrative, Winterson allows herself the dangerous luxury of writing a novel that refuses to rely on rousing plot devices.

Winterson's great gift is evident.' The Washington Post Book World Winterson has mastered both comedy and tragedy in this rich little novel. 'A striking, quirky, delicate, and intricate work.

Oranges are the only fruit