Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
First edition
Author(s)	Jeanette Winterson
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Semi-autobiographical novel
Publisher	Pandora Press
Publication date	21 March 1985
Media type	Print (Paperback)
ISBN	0-8021-3516-1
OCLC Number	15792328
Followed by	Boating for Beginners

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a novel by Jeanette Winterson published in 1985, which she subsequently adapted into a BBC television drama. It is a bildungsroman about a lesbian girl who grows up in an English Pentecostal community.

Plot

The main character is a young girl named Jeanette, who is adopted by evangelists from the Elim Pentecostal Church. She believes she is destined to become a missionary. The book depicts religious enthusiasm as an exploration of the power of love. As an adolescent, Jeanette experiences homosexual tendencies, and her mother's group of religious friends subject her and her lesbian lover to exorcisms.^[1]

Background

The book and subsequent BBC mini series, adapted by Winterson, is believed to be semi-autobiographical and is generally based on Winterson's life in Accrington, Lancashire, after moving from her birth town Manchester. The book was written many years after any actual events as Winterson moved to her present location London.

Criticism

• The novel won Winterson the Whitbread Award for a First Novel in 1985.
• Jeanette Winterson does not consider this novel to be a lesbian novel, arguing, 'I've never understood why straight fiction is supposed to be for everyone, but anything with a gay character or that includes gay experience is only for queers.'^[1]
• Although the protagonist bears the author's first name, John Mullan has argued that it is neither an autobiography nor a memoir, but a Künstlerroman.^[2]
• The book is now popular in schools, most often as part of an A-level literature course. There is a volume in the York Notes Advanced series by Kathryn Simpson, aimed at English Literature students.
• Both John Bayley and Muriel Spark have praised the novel.^[3]

Adaptations

A television adaptation of the book was made and aired by the BBC in 1990, starring Charlotte Coleman, which won the Prix Italia in 1991.^[4]

The book was released on cassette by BBC Audiobooks in 1990, also read by Coleman.^[5]

See also

• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (TV serial)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Winterson, Jeanette. "Interview on Jeanette Winterson's official site". http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=50. Retrieved August 20, 2010. 
2. ^ 'True stories', John Mullan, The Guardian, 27 October 2007
3. ^ Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, London: Vintage, 2001, back cover
4. ^ Prix Italia, Winners 1949 - 2010, RAI
5. ^ ISBN 978-0563410706