Susie Orbach Character Analysis in Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

A well-known psychoanalyst and writer of books such as Fat is a Feminist Issue, Susie Orbach has been Jeanette Winterson’s partner since about 2009. Jeanette describes Susie as a loving and empathetic person who sees and supports her, and who is her rock and her advocate throughout the process of attempting to find her own birth mother.

Susie Orbach Character Timeline in Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

The timeline below shows where the character Susie Orbach appears in Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

The Pursuit of Love and Happiness Theme Icon

...stop the process, but with the support of her new partner—a psychoanalyst and writer named Susie Orbach—she presses on. “Adoption begins on your own… Therefore, the journey back should not be... (full context)

Mothers, Daughters, and Forgiveness Theme Icon

Next, Jeanette must meet with a social worker at the Home Office. She and Susie meet with Ria Hayward, who looks through the documents that Jeanette has, and reassures her... (full context)

Ria, Jeanette, and Susie continue to struggle against the courts, who demand that Jeanette follow strict and obscure procedures.... (full context)

Susie extracts a promise from the court manager to meet with the judge in session, find... (full context)

Susie and Jeanette meet with the court manager once again. He is able to tell Jeanette... (full context)

On a trip to New York City, Susie tells Jeanette that Jeanette doesn’t know “how to be loved.” Jeanette admits that she does... (full context)

...in those clothes. Jeanette finds humor in the situation, and when she relays it to Susie, a psychoanalyst, Susie tells her that “mothers do everything with boy babies differently,” and that... (full context)

...through the uncle she contacted. A week later, she receives a text which begins “Darling Girl”—Susie leaves the room with Jeanette’s phone, calls the number, and then comes back upstairs to... (full context)

On the way to Ann’s, Jeanette speaks to Susie on the phone. She is nervous as she travels through the outskirts of Manchester, which... (full context)