Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

<div>Jeanette Winterson&#8217;s novels have established her as a major figure in world literature. She has written some of the most admired books of the past few decades, including her internationally bestselling first novel, <i>Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit</i>, the story of a young girl adopted by Pentecostal parents that is now often required reading in contemporary fiction.<br><br><i>Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?</i> is a memoir about a life&#8217;s work to find happiness. It's 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 an north England industrial town now changed beyond recognition; about the Universe as Cosmic Dustbin.<br><br>It is the story of how a painful past that Jeanette thought she'd written over and repainted rose to haunt her, sending her on a journey into madness and out again, in search of her biological mother.<br><br>Witty, acute, fierce, and celebratory, <i>Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?</i> is a tough-minded search for belonging&#151;for love, identity, home, and a mother.<br></div>