Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is the debut novel of Jeannette Winterson, originally published on March 21, 1985 by Pandora Press in London. The story is a semi-autobiographical novel that closely follows the childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood of Jeanette, who, like Winterson, is adopted into a Pentecostal Evangelist household and raised in the church. As she grows, she comes to terms with her sexuality as a lesbian and faces condemnation and judgment from the church and her mother. She refuses to repent and is eventually thrown out of the house, demonstrating the influence that religious beliefs and community can have on personal family affairs. The book is a mix of memoir, fiction, and fairy tale/fantasy as Winterson uses many genres to follow Jeanette’s story and frame her emotions and experiences in interjected fairy tale stories. The novel enjoys critical success, having won the Whitbread Award for Best First Fiction and being adapted for television in 1990.

This guide references the reprinted paperback version of the novel published by Grove Press.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of anti-LGBTQIA+ bias and abuse.

Plot Summary

Jeanette is adopted into a family with a hard-working, rarely present father and an extremely religious and involved mother. Jeanette’s mother is firm in her faith, often praying for the downfall of her enemies and contributing to every initiative her church works for. From an early age, Jeanette understands that she does not like men and does not want to marry one. She finds kinship with two women who live together and run the local paper store, but her mother bans her from seeing them, saying they have “Unnatural Passions.” On Sundays, Jeanette and her mother go for walks around town, and Jeanette’s mother tells her that she adopted her to devote her to God and dedicate her life to him.

That night, at church, Pastor Finch asks Jeanette her age, and after briefly describing the holy qualities of the number seven, begins preaching on the evil of the number two, suggesting Jeanette herself could harbor sin. Jeanette and her mother leave soon after and head home for a night of company. Her father goes to bed early, but her mother stays up all night, and Jeanette, who is not in school, stays up with her and learns from the Bible. One day, however, an envelope arrives saying Jeanette must attend school, and though her mother disapproves, she sends her.

When she is seven, Jeanette briefly loses her hearing, though no one notices, as they all believe her silence is a sign of her being in rapture of the Lord. One day, however, Ms. Jewsbury runs into Jeanette, and Jeanette explains through scraps of paper that she cannot hear. She takes her to the hospital and fights with Jeanette’s mother to get a doctor’s diagnosis. A doctor confirms her hearing loss, and she is prepped for surgery, though Jeanette’s mother rarely visits her before or after because of church duties. During this time, another church woman, Elsie, keeps Jeanette company and acts as a mentor to her.

Jeanette struggles to fit in at school, too preoccupied with religion to make friends or earn her teacher’s trust. She chokes a girl one day to demonstrate the violence of Hell, and her artistic projects and schoolwork all have a religious theme. She wants to win an award, but none of her teachers award one to her, even after Elsie helps her understand the creations have value apart from their creator and she begins making art projects without religious themes.

As she matures, Jeanette struggles to reconcile the teachings of the church with the world she experiences at school and outside and finds herself disagreeing with a pastor for the first time over the topic of perfection. To frame this disagreement, a fairy tale depicts a prince searching for the perfect wife, only to discover that perfection cannot be found in the world. With this in mind, he begins a new quest to make perfection.

Jeanette becomes more and more preoccupied with men and marriage as she hears the women around her complain about their unfaithful or emotionally absent husbands. She has a recurring nightmare where she marries a horrific man and finds herself not believing women when they say that every girl finds her man. On a trip into town, Jeanette rips her coat on a hook at the butcher shop and she and her mother go to find a replacement. Afterward, they go to the fish stall and Jeanette meets Melanie, who she is instantly taken with. Over the next few weeks, Jeanette visits Melanie and invites her to church, where she converts. Jeanette becomes her counselor, and they begin spending a lot of time together.

New feelings stir in Jeanette when she spends time with Melanie, and she tries to discuss them with her mother. She spends many nights at Melanie’s, where they consider their feelings for each other and determine that they cannot be the “Unnatural Passions” the pastor always condemns. When Melanie stays at Jeanette’s, her mother constantly spies on them. One morning, Melanie and Jeanette arrive late to church, where her mother accuses them of having “Unnatural Passions.” Melanie repents, but Jeanette refuses. She leaves the church and goes with Ms. Jewsbury to think of what to do next. Ms. Jewsbury reveals that she is also a lesbian, and they make love.

The next day, Jeanette is prayed over and sent into isolation with no food. She meets her orange demon who tells her she must choose to live authentically or lie. She repents to stop the praying and isolation but refuses to feel any shame. She visits Melanie one last time, and life soon returns to normal. She begins flirting with another girl at church, Katy, and as the Christmas season arrives, Jeanette avoids her mother. Melanie returns to town from university for the holidays, but Jeanette stays away from her. She and Katy begin a relationship, and when Melanie again returns for Easter, she announces that she is engaged to a military man.

After Jeanette and Katy are discovered together at a church-affiliated boarding house, Jeanette’s mother throws her out of the house. The church once again tries to make her repent, but this time she refuses and leaves the church. During this trying time, Jeanette meets with Elsie, who tells her she always knew Jeanette had feelings for women and tells her she would not let this happen to her if she had not been in the hospital for so long. Jeanette leaves her mother’s house and plans for the future.

Interspersed with Jeanette’s departure and burgeoning adult life is the story of Winnet, a girl who is tricked into becoming a sorcerer’s apprentice and learns his power. When she begins a relationship with a boy, the sorcerer kicks her out of his kingdom, and she finds a new home in a village. Soon, though, she wants to go to the city and sets sail for a new future.

Jeanette now has two jobs: driving an ice cream truck and working for an undertaker and his partner, a wreath maker. When Elsie dies and the church hires the undertaker, Jeanette must serve food at the services. The church is enraged that she is there, and Jeanette storms out after her mother, who loudly denounces her and says she is not her daughter.

Years later, Jeanette returns to her hometown from the city. Her mother allows her to stay in the house and their relationship seems repaired, though Jeanette notices that her mother will not look her in the eye. During this trip home, Jeanette reflects on the pain of coming home and remembers her old life. She also remembers running into Melanie as an adult, who now has a child, and how Melanie denied that they ever had a real relationship. Jeanette stays at home for the Christmas holiday, but rarely sees her parents as they are involved in the church to which she no longer belongs. As the trip ends, she wonders how she cannot join a real family but also cannot completely separate herself from her mother, who keeps pulling her back home.