Winterson offers a rather devastating portrayal of the life of a young girl discovering her queerness in a rigidly and destructively religious household. The nuances of Jeanette's relationship with her mother, with Melanie, with Elsie, with God, are astute, and offer a tender image of the way growing up in such a religious household affects one's understanding of themselves and of love and what it means.

But where was God now, with heaven full of astronauts, and the Lord overthrown? I miss God. I miss the company of something utterly loyal. I still don't think of God as my betrayer. The servants of God, yes, but servants by their very nature betray. I miss the God who was my friend.