"Raised by an oppressively evangelical mother, Jeanette grows up a good little Christian soldier, even going so far as to stitch samplers whose apocalyptic themes terrify her classmates. As she dryly notes, without self-pity or smugness, 'This tendency towards the exotic has brought me many problems, just as it did for William Blake.' Jeanette would have remained in the fold but for her unconventional desires; though she can reconcile her love of women with her love of God, the church cannot. It could have been a grim tale, but this first novel—winner of England's Whitbread Prize—is in fact a wry and tender telling of a young girl's triumphantly coming into her own."—Library Journal