Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Summary

From the age of seven, Jeanette lives in England with her adoptive parents, her mother being a devout Christian who rules Jeanette's life, and her absent father. Having been home-schooled largely via Bible lessons, Jeanette is introduced to formal schooling and the world outside the church, when her mother is ordered to send her to school. Jeanette's mother had adopted her to raise a child without the involvement of sex and to mold her into a servant of God, thus instilling in Jeanette a sense of uniqueness and the idea that she's destined to be a missionary. A hearing loss at age seven, initially misdiagnosed as a state of rapture by her mother and the church members, is treated after it's identified as a physical ailment. Post-surgery, Jeanette spends considerable time with Elsie, another church member who exposes her to poetry and other worldly aspects.

At school, Jeanette's evangelical beliefs make her an outcast; her essays on missionary work and art projects quoting biblical texts are met with disdain. A teacher, Mrs. Vole, accuses her of scaring fellow students with her obsession with God and talk of Hell, and writes to Jeanette's mother who, instead of being dismayed, is elated. As Jeanette matures, she finds herself questioning and sometimes disagreeing with the church's teachings, but continues to remain closely affiliated with her mother, a major influence in their Society for the Lost. Jeanette's curiosity about romance and men leads her to Melanie, a girl she meets at a fish stall, and they eventually become friends, with Melanie agreeing to be saved by Jesus on her first visit to Jeanette's church.

As Jeanette and Melanie spend more time together, a romantic affair blossoms between them which, when discovered, leads to a public shaming in the church and an attempted exorcism when Jeanette refuses to repent. Jeanette's mother locks her up for thirty-six hours, after which Jeanette feigns repentance but internally holds steadfast to the belief that her love for both Melanie and God isn't wrong. Following an affair with a new convert, Katy, Jeanette is blamed, leading to the church restricting her roles. Jeanette chooses to leave the church and is also forced out of her home by her mother. She works various jobs and eventually moves to the city, but is met with cold rejection by her mother and former congregation members. She returns home one winter to find her mother's Society for the Lost crumbling due to corruption, and a slight softening in her mother's staunch beliefs.