The autobiographical but semi-fictional book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit shares many similarities with Jeanette Winterson's memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?. Both books recount the story of Winterson growing up, but the latter book gives a more accurate description of what happened, rather than this book which was intended for a wide audience.
The book begins telling the story of Jeanette's life when she is seven years old, living with her adoptive parents. They raise Jeanette with strong core Christian values, to the point where she has become obsessed with religion.
At school, Jeanette is made fun of by teachers and students alike because she always has something religious on her mind, and she is told to stop talking about Hell and the Devil in class. However, as she ages, Jeanette begins to question her beliefs.
Eventually, when she is fifteen years old, she meet Melanie, a worker at her church. She begins to fall in love with her, even though this is completely against everything that she has been taught. One day, Melanie disappears from the scene, and Jeanette soon forgets about her, becoming deeply involved with the church one again.
Now that Jeanette is older, she has little money, and no friends. She has to work various jobs just to keep going, and her faith continues to be questioned, leaving the reader to decide if she keeps or loses it after the book ends.
