Not my favorite Emma Donaghue book, but still would recommend reading this fictionalized tale of Anne Lister in her formative years at boarding school. I found myself trying to envision Suranne Jones as a teen while reading this - that's how ingrained Gentleman Jack has become in the lesbian community.

Very well told, funny at times, and it was an enjoyable read - it just wasn't an unputdownable book like the author's other books are.

In the year 1805, we follow the life of fourteen-year-old Eliza Raine, a student at the Manor School for Young Ladies in York. Eliza, the daughter of an Indian mother and a British father, was sent to this unfamiliar land when she was just a young child. Stepping onto the shores of Kent from the King George, she was accompanied by her older sister, Jane. However, now, she embarks on her journey alone within the confines of the Manor, with no one left to claim her as their own. Her days are often spent trying to blend into the background, avoiding the watchful eyes of her fellow pupils. Until, one fateful day, a fearless and charismatic new student arrives at the school. These two girls are thrust together, and soon, Eliza's world is irrevocably transformed by this enigmatic and inquisitive young woman.

The story delves into the lives of those who are considered different, those whom society rejects. While the narrative does touch on issues of racism, it does so in a more subtle manner than one might expect. The tale is haunting, particularly when it delves into their forbidden love. Donoghue masterfully captures the intensity of first love, making it utterly captivating.

This is a meticulously researched story that brilliantly explores the themes of love, society's rejection of those who are different, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story is based on the lives of the real Anne Lister and Eliza Raine and tells of their forbidden love affair as teens in a boarding school. I really enjoyed how Donoghue depicted the characters and captured the setting and morals of the time. This is really Eliza's story and I do wish slightly more had been revealed about her after Anne left the school, but perhaps not much more is known. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC. 3.75/5

I love how Donoghue’s books can be so different from one another. This was a beautiful novel based on real characters, and I loved it. The back and forth, the time in which it was set. Such a talented writer.

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with Emma Donoghue's books. More love than hate - Room, The Wonder, The Pull of the Stars, were all fantastic. But man, when she tanks for me, she really tanks. First Haven, and now this. I've read some of the other reviews of the book, and I honestly wonder if we read the same story. But it was a brutal read for me. The characters did nothing for me; the story line dragged on and on and ON. The flipping back and forth between the main story and Eliza's letters just added to my agony. I want to forget I ever read this book (and thankfully, I probably will). I know my review is extreme, but I simply can't find anything redeeming about this book. If you've never read Emma Donoghue before, please don't let this be your first.

I encourage readers of this book to read the author's notes when they're done. It is clear how much care Donoghue has for her subject and it make this book truly lovely despite Raine's end. Donoghue's writing remains phenomenal, her characters well drawn. Though these are real historical women, Raine in particular is not well known and Donoghue must use her formidable talents to realize her and this she does. The empathy with which this fairly tragic character comes to life is wonderful to read. There is something so relatable about the inner lives of teenage girls, the petty jealousies, slights, and finally loves that can only come from from girls. Donoghue succeeds in bringing all the feeling over the top as it may be to life, and I enjoyed it immensely.

An awesome sapphic/coming-of-age/historical fiction! I loved Eliza's voice, I felt so immersed in her every day interactions. It was also so fun to see a young Anne Lister too! My only criticism is that at times the pacing felt a little slow, but that can happen with such character-driven plots.

Gorgeous writing underpins Emma Donoghue's fictional recounting of the tragic romance between Eliza Raine and Anne Lister (a.k.a Gentleman Jack). Donoghue has taken what little is known about Eliza Raine from various documents, and created a portrait of a young woman constrained by 19th-century societal expectations, which were only more restrictive and enforced to train the "savage" out of her.

Raine and her younger sister Jane were born in India to an Indian mother and English father, who were in what was called a "country marriage". When Eliza was six, she and her sister were returned "home" to England by their wealthy father, with the intent that they learn to be good English ladies. He died unexpectedly soon after, and the girls were left orphaned in England.

Eliza lived at the boarding school; the teachers were all a little more disrespectful of her, and the other students were, at times, outright racist. Eliza is quite conscious that despite being an heiress, how easily she can lose her position in society for even the slightest infraction.

Then Eliza's whole life changed when Anne Lister became her roommate in their childhood. Lister was highly literate, adventurous and unconventional, and she soon drew Eliza into her explorations and escapades. Of course Eliza fell for Anne, and the two became very close, to the point that in their early teens began a sexual relationship. After an accident, Lister leaves the school, leaving Eliza bereft.

Eliza is beautifully conceived. We see a young woman conscious of her status, who never felt fully at home in England because of her lack of acceptance by others, but did not remember her mother of her country of origin. Music sustained her, as well as obedience to her teachers.

Throughout the narrative, Donoghue gives us letters written by an adult Raine, living in a sanitorium, to Lister ten years after the events in the book. The letters are heartbreaking, full of love and desperate desire. We see someone hanging on to her sanity, and longing to reunite with Lister.

I knew this book would be tragic before starting it, and I was deeply moved by Eliza Raine's story. Donoghue has crafted a lovely, slow-moving love story, and a dismal portrait of a life wasted.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Little, Brown and Company for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I have mixed feelings about this one. Donoghue can write a sense of place so well. It was easy to be transported to this boarding school. But I had a hard time with the characters because they seemed a bit flat. I think that writing about real people can be hard because of how much detail and embellishment to include and I wish this had a bit more to it.

I love Emma Donoghue's historical fiction, and this did not disappoint. It is an intriguing look at an early 1800s boarding school and the teenage romance of Eliza Raine, a young woman of color, and her friend, the dynamic Anne Lister. The book so well conveys the thrill of having a special friend who understands you, and the joy of having that relationship deepen into love. There was a surprise at the end for me when I discovered that the characters were carefully based on real women. I highly recommend cozying up with this one.

This beautifully written but heartbreaking novel is loosely based on the lives of Eliza Raine and Anne Lister. It’s a romance set in a boarding school in York in 1805-06. The chapters describing their lives at the school are interspersed with letters from Raine to Lister in 1815. The letters are written by Raine from an asylum. Anne Lister became known as the business woman Gentleman Jack. PBS produced a wonderful dramatic series on Gentleman Jack a few years ago.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

While the writing was beautiful, I didn’t feel a connection to the subject matter and was unable to finish this. I’d recommend this to those who are interested in the genre.

Read if you like: sapphic romance, boarding school setting
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The book follows Eliza and Lister as they explore love and identity within the walls of their boarding school.
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Overall, I enjoyed the development of Eliza and her relationship with Lister. The beginning felt a bit slow and took me a bit to get into, but about halfway through I became fully invested in the story and wanted to learn what happened to Eliza. It is also cool that this is based on a true story and that Eliza and Lister were real people in history!

Perhaps I didn't give this book about two girls in a boarding school in England in the early 1800's enough of a chance. It started out so slow that I never got invested in it and then did a lot of skimming. It did get better at the end but it just wasn't the book for me.

Donoghue's writing is strong. She create a sense of place. I could see all these girls.

But absolutely nothing surprising happened. And I was disappointed that she makes Raine a tragic figure. It felt like a lot of work for very little reward.

Listen I am an Emma Donoghue fan girl. This is my 8th novel by her. I found it a slow burn, liked it a lot during the end, and then liked it even more when I realized in the author’s notes that it is based on real women with a complicate past. But Anne Lister is known in Britain as “the first modern lesbian” and her diary has been named “A National Treasure” so then I liked it even more once I know it is based on fact! A lot to think about in terms of love, racism, colour, women hood, what being a women means and how strong women were treated way back then.

I appreciate historical fiction that uses primary sources, in this case letters exchanged between the narrator and Anne Lister, and I loved the way Donoghue interspersed the letters into the story of how these two women fell I love as school girls. The choice to tell the story from the POV of Raine, as opposed to the better known figure of Lister also intrigued me, and I enjoyed learning the story from Raine’s perspective. Some of the descriptions of life at the boarding school fell flat for me, and I at times felt like I was having a history lesson rather than unraveling a story of first love. Additionally, rather than the extensive dialog between students that made up many of the chapters, I would have liked more writing that exposed the emotional connection between young Raine and Lister. Overall, it was well written and interesting but not amazing,

I usually love anything written by Emma Donoghue, but I have to admit I didn’t particularly enjoy this novel. I have watched the TV series “Gentleman Jack”, so I knew how famous Anne Lister was, and so I was interested to see how Donoghue would frame her story. She does, indeed, communicate this story in an interesting way. Donoghue uses a character named Eliza Raines (herself a real person from the past) as our main character. Eliza is an orphaned, biracial 14-year-old who lives and attends boarding school in Victorian England. One day, a new student arrives and impacts Eliza’s life to a degree that will haunt her to her dying day. This new student is Anne Lister, or “Lister”, as she prefers to be called. Eliza is soon entranced by Lister’s bold and brave behaviour and falls ultimately and utterly in love with her. I admire Donoghue’s writing, and I count Haven as one of my favourite books of all time. I found Learned by Heart a bit of a struggle to get through because, well, I just didn’t care what was going to happen next. I actually found the information in the Author’s Note at the end of the novel more interesting than the novel itself. I

I really enjoyed Learned by Heart! The main setting is a girl’s boarding school, and the storyline follows the love and friendship between two of the women there. The story is written based on letters written between those involved and the historical records, which I think is really interesting!

The author did a great job with capturing the bond that forms in close friendships between women, and also with capturing the ecstasy and heartbreak of love.

Superb and engrossing. The imagined childhood love of Anne Lister is told so deliciously by Donoghue through the character of Eliza Raine. Donoghue shines when depicting the past and "Learned by Heart" is no exception.