Clearly, and justifiably, Winterson assumes some knowledge with that earlier novel, which narrates the childhood of an adopted girl named Jeanette, growing up as a lesbian in a strictly Christian household in northern England. That this memoir could be summarised in precisely the same words indicates how autobiographical that novel was, although as Winterson addresses in the first chapter of Happy, that Oranges contained such details does not mean it was not fictional. Now, 25 years later, Winterson revisits the same story, this time in the guise of a memoir which admits 'Part fact part fiction is what life is'.
