Learned By Heart

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What to expect

The heartbreaking story of the love of two women – Anne Lister, the real-life inspiration behind Gentleman Jack, and her first love, Eliza Raine – from the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder.

'A rich and spellbinding 19th-century story of forbidden love' – The Independent

'Donoghue evokes a relationship that is convincing and exquisitely touching' – The Guardian

In 1805, at a boarding school in York, two fourteen-year-old girls first meet.

Eliza Raine, the orphan daughter of an Indian mother, keeps herself apart from the other girls, tired of being picked out for being different. Anne Lister, a gifted troublemaker, is determined to conquer the world, refusing to bow to society’s expectations of what a woman can do.

As they fall in love, the connection they forge will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

Full of passion and heartbreak, evocative and wholly unique, Learned by Heart is a beautiful and moving historical novel from acclaimed author Emma Donoghue.

Shortlisted for the Atwood Gibson Prize

Critics Review

Donoghue's prose is beautiful and beautifully controlled. Simply and without a shred of sentimentality, she evokes a relationship that is convincing and exquisitely touching
The Guardian
The historical setting comes alive in glorious detail . . . over the course of this enthralling novel
The Irish Times
Offers a refreshing perspective on a celebrated figure in LGBTQ+ history
Sunday Express
A slow burning love story of first love. The girls do not so much discover love as feel they are inventing it
The Times Literary Supplement
An exquisite coming-of-age love story
The Times, 'Historical Fiction Book of the Month'
Spellbinding . . . A moving portrait of two young women who are willing to risk everything for love
The Independent
A richly imagined novelistic account of a 19th century love affair
Vogue
A fascinating . . . love story that's both queer and multiracial
The Washington Post
A master of plot
Time
A writer of great vitality and generosity
The New Yorker
Set against a vividly realised 1800s England, this spellbinding novel is a stunning character exploration that will move even the steeliest of readers
Armistead Maupin, Attitude
Donoghue has created a gripping story of the blistering connection between Anne and Eliza Raine . . . This is richly told and built on meticulous research
Sainsbury's Magazine
Emma Donoghue’s writing is superb alchemy
Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife
Donoghue delights in the intensity of girlhood . . . The book wears its painstaking research like the light shifts the schoolgirls sleep in
Financial Times
Donoghue is a superb stylist – her prose is stirring and tender
The Sunday Times
She can do everything: be funny, be moving, be unflinching yet sensitive, write beautifully nuanced sentences and utterly gripping stories. She can write powerful historical fiction and be absolutely contemporary. And she’s unable to write a line you don't believe
Joseph O’Connor, author of Star of the Sea
Emma Donoghue is a genius of compassion. With her, the ethical imagination is always paramount. In our fractured world she brings a great sense of repair to us all. Her stories bind us back together
Colum McCann, internationally bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin

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