© Cherry Podcast Network.

Ep 3: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
with Julie Jay

June 9th, 2020

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Author: Jeanette Winterson
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Characters

Jeanette

Our leading lady, growing up in a very strict Evangelist household as a gay kid.

Jeanette's Mother

Absolutely mad for a bitta God. Adopted Jeanette because she wanted to have a child without having sex (fornication is a sin) and raise her to be a missionary.

Jeanette's Father

Stays in the background and doesn't say or do much.

Elsie

Another member of the church who Jeanette spends a lot of time with, she teaches her about poetry and other things that exist outside the church.

Melanie and Katie

Jeanette's first two love affairs. They're both also part of the church.

Synopsis

  • Jeanette is adopted by an Evangelist woman, who adopted her with the sole intention of raising her to be a missionary.
  • Jeanette is home schooled by her Mother (which mostly consists of learning to read the Bible) until the Mother is ordered to send her to regular school at age 7. She struggles in regular school because all she really knows at this stage is the church and struggles to make friends because she's constantly telling the other kids they're going to Hell.
  • Around this time, Jeanette loses her hearing. Her Mother and the church believe she's just in a state of rapture. Eventually they realise she actually has to go to the hospital, and she recovers.
  • As Jeanette grows older, she starts to realise that maybe everything the church says isn't 100% accurate. She also begins to discover her own sexuality.
  • Jeanette begins a relationship with another girl from church, Melanie. Her Mother finds out and the two girls are publicly shamed in front of the congregation, and the church attempts to exorcise the "demons" from them. Melanie repents, Jeanette does not.
  • Eventually, Jeanette begins a relationship with a recent convert to the church, Katie. Again, they are discovered. Jeanette takes the blame for the entire relationship, saying Katie had nothing to with it and that Jeanette was actually just confiding in her about feelings she still had for Melanie. She does this so Katie won't get in trouble or have to undergo an exorcism.
  • The church decides Jeanette has been given too much responsibility, and that she thinks she's as powerful as a man. Her Mother is disgusted that her model missionary child did not turn out the way she wanted. Jeanette leaves home and fends for herself, working as an ice cream truck driver and undertakers assistant.
  • After a while of living away, Jeanette returns home to see her Mother, who still believes in the church even though its corrupt inner workings (stealing money from collections, etc) have been revealed.

Listen now at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google Podcasts, Acast, Deezer, Castbox, Tune In, Podtail or wherever you get your podcasts.