I loved this book- humor, tragedy, and above all, as I found with other Winterson books, the REAL quality of the characters shine through effortlessly. There are parts of this book that I want to share with everyone I know. ( )

A thoroughly well written novel on the step daughter of a northern working class religious fanatic a how she comes to terms with her mother and her sexuality. ( )

Jeanette's adoptive mother is a religious nutter who is married to a pleasant, ineffectual man. She brings Jeanette up to be a missionary and Jeanette has quite a talent for preaching but none for getting on with the irreligious. She falls in love with Melanie and is discarded by her church. One of Jeanette's dilemmas is whether to stay near her family and former religious friends or to escape her old life altogether. The alternatives are ilustrated by odd fairytales. Another fairytale clarifies Jeanette's confusion about the religious need to be perfect. A sad and funny book. ( )

On p161 out of the 176 pages of this novella, Winterton states "Everyone thinks their own situation most tragic. I am no exception." And ain't that the truth. I haven't read a novel so fuelled by vitriol for a long while. This was written out of pain, frustration, anger, hurt, angst, rebellion and a host of other jolly emotions. As such, it's hard to come away with it feeling much positive.

The subject matter is difficult: religiously-fuelled sexual prejudice against lesbianism. The problem is that, like most books that try to counteract prejudice, the novel comes off just as prejudiced as those they are lambasting. Winterton is no exception and that, I feel, is the weakness of this novel if it was her intention to create empathy for her own and others' situations...

Read the rest of this review at Arukiyomi. ( )

I read this book some ten years ago and found it boring. Maybe I'll change my mind if I read it today? However, I doubt it. ( )