Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?A New York Times bestseller: The “magnificent” memoir by one of the bravest and most original writers of our time—“A tour de force of literature and love” (Vogue). One of the New York Times’ “50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years” Jeanette Winterson’s bold and revelatory novels have established her as a major figure in world literature. Her internationally best-selling debut, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, tells the story of a young girl adopted by Pentecostal parents, and has become a staple of required reading in contemporary fiction classes. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a “singular and electric” memoir about a life’s work to find happiness (The New York Times). It is a book full of stories: about a girl locked out of her home, sitting on the doorstep all night; about a religious zealot disguised as a mother who has two sets of false teeth and a revolver in the dresser, waiting for Armageddon; about growing up in a north England industrial town now changed beyond recognition; about the universe as a cosmic dustbin. It is the story of how a painful past, rose to haunt the author later in life, sending her on a journey into madness and out again, in search of her biological mother. It is also a book about the power of literature, showing how fiction and poetry can form a string of guiding lights, or a life raft that supports us when we are sinking. Witty, acute, fierce, and celebratory, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a tough-minded story of the search for belonging—for love, identity, home, and a mother. |
Contents
The Trouble With A Book | |
At Home | |
Church | |
Accrington | |
The Apocalypse | |
This Is The Road | |
Art and Lies | |
Intermission | |
The Night Sea Voyage | |
This Appointment Takes Place In The Past | |
Strange Meeting | |
The Wound | |
Coda | |
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Accrington adoption asked Auntie Nellie baby believe better Bible birth body called Christmas church coat creature dead Dobermanns door electronic organ Elim Elim Pentecostal Church English Literature everything father feel felt gave Gertrude Gertrude Stein girl Grandad half happened happy Harold Shipman Hillman Imp inside Janey Jeanette Jeanette Winterson Jesus Kathleen Ferrier kids killed kind knew Lancashire later librarian live looking Manchester Margaret Thatcher married meant mother never night Oranges Oswaldtwistle Oxford past Pierre K pineapple Polo mints Ratlow realised round Royal Albert sleep someone stay story Susie T. S. Eliot talk tell things thought Toklas told trying Vicky walked wanted Wilfred Owen Winterson woman women wondered working-class wound write wrong crib wrote