The Passion

Jeanette Winterson’s novels have established her as one of the most important young writers in world literature. The Passion is perhaps her most highly acclaimed work, a modern classic that confirms her special claim on the novel. Set during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars, The Passion intertwines the destinies of two remarkable people: Henri, a simple French soldier, who follows Napoleon from glory to Russian ruin; and Villanelle, the red-haired, web-footed daughter of a Venetian boatman, whose husband has gambled away her heart. In Venice’s compound of carnival, chance, and darkness, the pair meet their singular destiny.

In her unique and mesmerizing voice, Winterson blends reality with fantasy, dream, and imagination to weave a hypnotic tale with stunning effects.

Born in England in 1959, Jeanette Winterson was raised by a family of Pentecostal evangelists, and was destined to be a missionary. Instead, she left home for several odd jobs before studying English at Oxford. She then worked in the theater before writing her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, which won the Whitbread Prize for best first novel. She is also the author of Sexing the Cherry, Written on the Body, and Gut Symmetries.