{"product_id":"why-be-happy-when-you-could-be-normal-9780802120878","title":"Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Magnificent . . . A tour de force of literature and love.\"--\u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eWhy Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?\u003c\/i\u003e is raucous. It hums with a dark refulgence from its first pages. . . . Singular and electric . . . [Winterson's] life with her adoptive parents was often appalling, but it made her the writer she is.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[Winterson is] one of the most daring and inventive writers of our time--searingly honest yet effortlessly lithe as she slides between forms, exuberant and unerring, demanding emotional and intellectual expansion of herself and of us. . . . In\u003ci\u003e Why Be Happy, \u003c\/i\u003e, [Winterson's] emotional life is laid bare . . . [in] a bravely frank narrative of truly coming undone. For someone in love with disguises, Winterson's openness is all the more moving; there's nothing left to hide, and nothing left to hide behind.\"--\u003ci\u003eElle\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJeanette Winterson's bold and revelatory novels have earned her widespread acclaim, establishing 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 best-selling first novel, \u003ci\u003eOranges Are Not the Only Fruit\u003c\/i\u003e, the story of a young girl adopted by Pentecostal parents, that is now often required reading in contemporary fiction classes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhy Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? \u003c\/i\u003eis a memoir about a life's work to find happiness. 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, which Winterson thought she had written over and repainted, rose to haunt her 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 other people's literature, one that shows how fiction and poetry can form a string of guiding lights, a life raft that supports us when we are sinking. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWitty, acute, fierce, and celebratory, \u003ci\u003e Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?\u003c\/i\u003e is a tough-minded search for belonging--for love, identity, home, and a mother.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBorn in Manchester in 1959 and adopted into a firmly religious family, \u003cb\u003eJEANETTE WINTERSON \u003c\/b\u003eput herself through higher education and studied at Oxford University. She is the author of numerous novels, including \u003ci\u003eOranges Are Not the Only Fruit\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSexing the Cherry\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Passion\u003c\/i\u003e. Winterson lives in Gloucestershire, UK. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eVisit her website at jeanettewinterson.com\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Grove Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50613547893010,"sku":"9780802120878","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4cec02a0-58a9-4f7f-8559-0266fd70319b.jpg?v=1732407242","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/why-be-happy-when-you-could-be-normal-9780802120878","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}