GENESIS:

The writer Jeanette Winterson organizes the book into eight chapters that take their name from the chapters of the Old Testament because the topics covered in each chapters are approximately connected with biblical themes. The first chapter is called "Genesis", in fact, in this first book of the Bible, describes the origins of the world, man and the tribes of Israel ; so in the same way, the chapters written by Jeanette Winterson, Jeanette tells of the beginnings, her description, her family, and her role.

Jeanette, the protagonist of the novel, begins the narration telling that she lived for a long time with his mother and father. To describe her parents, mostly the mother figure emerges: a strong woman, with ideals, determined and, above all, she is very religious . For her, in fact, exist in the world only two categories: the enemy (the Devil, "Next Door", snails, and sex) and friends (God, Aunt Madge, the novels of Charlotte Bronte, and slug pellets). Jeanette specifies that she belongs to the category of friends, at first. Mother hates sex, but also wanted a baby so she tried a foundling, adopted Jeanette.

After the presentation of the family, the little protagonist begins to recount his daily routine, especially on Sundays, the most important day: up early to pray, Bible quiz with her mother and listen to radio "World Service", a religious program heard from mother, to keep informed about the successes and failures of missionaries abroad, and daughter who takes notes.

In the afternoon, Jeanette and her mother usually take their dog for a walk and during one of these, Jeanette met a gypsy who has grasped her hand and  studied it, providing that the child would never have married.                     The narration then switches to a story about a beautiful princess who is so sensitive that the death of a moth could distress her for weeks. No one in the kingdom knows how to relieve her pain. One day, the princess finds an old hunchbacked woman in the forest. The hunchback asks the princess to take over her responsibilities that include milking goats, educating people, and composing songs for their festivals. The princess agrees, the old hunchback dies, and the princess never thinks of her worries again. The princess is so sensitive that she cannot function, but after the hunchback gives the princess something to occupy her hours the princess forgets her pain. Likewise, Jeanette finds something to save her from distress at a young age: her mother's religion.