Critics' Opinion:
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Published Aug 2023
336 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
A heartbreakingly gorgeous novel based on the true story of two girls who fall secretly, deeply, and dangerously in love at boarding school in 19th century York, from the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder.
Drawing on years of investigation and Anne Lister's five-million-word secret journal, Learned by Heart is the long-buried love story of Eliza Raine, an orphan heiress banished from India to England at age six, and Anne Lister, a brilliant, troublesome tomboy, who meet at the Manor School for young ladies in York in 1805 when they are both fourteen.
Emotionally intense, psychologically compelling, and deeply researched, Learned by Heart is an extraordinary work of fiction by one of the world's greatest storytellers. Full of passion and heartbreak, the tangled lives of Anne Lister and Eliza Raine form a love story for the ages.
"Donoghue (Haven) returns with an impressive story inspired by Eliza Raine, who was written about in Anne Lister's coded diaries about her lesbian love life...This melancholic love story is imbued with deep feeling and generosity toward its characters." —Publishers Weekly
"In the latest of her fact-based historical novels, Donoghue strikes an unabashedly romantic, dreamlike tone with an opening line deliberately evocative of Rebecca...Not quite on the level of Donoghue's very best work but nonetheless a treat for her many fans." —Kirkus Reviews
"Sentences sing, and details shine. Donoghue has a remarkable ability to hold you in a moment, allowing you to see as a character does, knowing the questions each breath contains..." —BookPage
"Donoghue's affection for the savvy, strange Lister is obvious, and the author makes her teenage couple's partnership both deeply serious and wonderfully naive...ultimately a tender, sad account of first love." —The Atlantic
This information about Learned by Heart was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Born in Dublin in 1969, Emma Donoghue is an Irish emigrant twice over: she spent eight years in Cambridge doing a PhD in eighteenth-century literature before moving to London, Ontario, where she lives with her partner and their two children. She also migrates between genres, writing literary history, biography, stage and radio plays as well as fairy tales and short stories. She is best known for her novels, which range from the historical (The Wonder, Frog Music, Slammerkin, Life Mask, Landing, The Sealed Letter) to the contemporary (Stir-Fry, Hood, Landing). Her international bestseller Room was a New York Times Best Book of 2010 and was a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth, and Orange Prizes.
Author Interview
Link to Emma Donoghue's Website
Name Pronunciation
Emma Donoghue: don-a-hue
The Bluestockings by Susannah Gibson
An illuminating group portrait of the eighteenth-century women who dared to imagine an active life for themselves in both mind and spirit.
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