Orange Is the New Black is the hit drama on Netflix which is now up to it’s third fantastic series. It’s easy to forget, through the lesbian hook-ups, contraband and cat-fights, that the story is based on Piper Kerman’s memoirs in the book ‘Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison’. But what’s real and what’s dramatised ? Here are the top 6 similarities and differences between the show and the biography. “Jenji has taken the themes from the book — friendship and empathy, guilt and shame, substance abuse, mental health issues — and blown them up. And that’s fantastic. The book is the true story of what I observed and felt, and while the show changes storylines and characters, it’s very true to the spirit of the book. The single thing that is most important about the book is how my life intersects with the lives of these other women.” – Piper Kerman

1. The show is actually quite accurate in terms of race.

According to Piper, Danbury Prison was “about 45% Latina, 25% Black, 25% White and 1% other” (presumably the remaining 4% came from the rats and cockroaches). There was one Indian woman and one Chinese woman, although sadly, it wasn’t Chang.

2. The character of Sophia is real.

Piper Kerman actually lived next door to a transgender woman named Laverne for a few months. The character of Sophia is an adaption but nevertheless, it’s great to see that the writers kept her in!

3. Piper and Larry are together.

Piper Kerman and Larry Smith are together and he was far more supportive and successful than the Jason Biggs character. Larry used to visit Piper in prison almost every week and said he felt like “a crazed mom juggling the kids’ soccer and piano lesson schedules” as he tried to maintain a ‘normal’ life. He paid her bills and made sure her inbox wasn’t overflowing whilst carpooling with another prisoners boyfriend until her 13 months were up.

4. No tampon sandwich.

Red was inspired by the real cook at the prison, however, despite Piper actually insulting her food, there was no full-blown argument and no tampon sandwich.

5. Piper Kerman was in and out of prison with ease.

Unlike in the Netflix series, Piper kept her head down and cracked on with her 15 month sentence without any major dramas and was subsequently released after just 13 months. But that wouldn’t have made a very entertaining Netflix drama now, would it?

6. Alex and Piper didn’t get it on.

Perhaps one of the most prominent story lines of the series, the will-they won’t-they relationship of Alex and Piper was hugely dramatized in the show. In fact, the two only spent 5 weeks in the same prison. When referring to their earlier relationship, Catherine Cleary Wolters (Alex) stated “we weren’t girlfriends, we were friends with benefits…I was not the older sexy, glamorous lesbian who snatched her from her pristine Smith College cradle”. Sorry to fans of their on-screen relationship but, Catherine and Piper didn’t even hook up in prison!

Now, in the book, Piper Kerman also talks about a cheesecake they used to make in prison, using a combination of food from commissary and a little sprinkling of contraband. How To Kitchen decided to save that recipe for another episode, so for now, here’s a safe option of a gorgeous chocolate orange and vanilla baked cheesecake.

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