4.5 stars.

Thanks to "Gentleman Jack," Anne Lister—aka "the first modern lesbian"—is no longer an obscure 19th-century figure. However, her first lover, Eliza Raine, is. "Learned by Heart" brings Eliza brilliantly to life, depicting the year Eliza and Anne roomed together in a Yorkshire finishing school. You really feel as if you're being invited into the schoolroom, and the bedroom, with them, and Eliza's awakening is perfectly evoked. The pacing is perfect, the characterizations crystalline, the descriptions evocative without ever becoming overdone. I almost feel guilty not giving this five stars, but for me it lacks that extra emotional oomph that I require in a five-star book. (I'm pretty strict with my ratings, however.)

Thank you, NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company, for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a huge fan of Emma Donoghue and read everything she writes. I was not disappointed with Learned by Heart. It was beautifully written and I loved hearing the historical perspective of a young Lister.

4.5 Stars

This is a beautifully written, if heartbreaking, story that is based on the lives of two young women in their early teens, Eliza Raine and Anne Lister. Eliza, sent from her homeland at an even younger age, and Anne meet at the Manor School for young ladies in 1805 when they are fourteen. While this is a somewhat fictionalized story, these two women were real. Anne Lister was born in the UK, in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and Eliza Raine, born in India, daughter of William Raine, a surgeon.

A friendship between Anne and Eliza begins early on, both feeling a bit like they don’t fit in with the other students. Their friendship takes on an almost exclusive, hidden nature as neither feel as comfortable with the others, but trust each other. As their bond grows, their friendship evolves into love. A love that needs to be cherished, but also must never be discovered by others.

‘Time, le temps,, uncountable time. Imperfectly past time. Its great scythe cuts down all before it. My childhood is a distant country that no ship can reach. I had a sister - have one still, on paper - but we are nothing akin, quite lost to each other. I once had a father, but full fathom five he lies. I once had a mother, how long since I forgot how to speak her tongue. Dearer than all these, I once had a friend who was far more than that; a beloved whose name will ever be graven on my heart.’

’You won’t be surprised that I so treasure these old haunts. It was in York that I received my education; where I was stamped like warm wax by a seal, formed once and for all. I know you’ll recall the song—where all the joy and mirth, made this town heaven on earth. At the Manor School, I tasted heaven on earth even as I toiled to pack my poor skull with the knowledge and wisdom I was told I’d need for life. The joke is, Lister, the only lesson I learned, or at least the only lesson I remember, was you.’

Eliza is more socially reserved than Anne, she admires her for her somewhat audacious manner, and she loves her for who she is. When Anne leaves the school, though, things begin to change. That following summer, after Eliza comes to visit her, Anne is drawn to an elite social circle, and Eliza begins to recognize that she’s losing Anne, which affects her mental health, which diminishes even more as time passes.

A glimpse at another time, of girls becoming women, the decisions they made, and the memories that haunt them as time passes.

Pub Date: 29 Aug 2023


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Little, Brown and Company

Donoghue certainly did her research for this novel that's based on a true story. The Author's Note is thorough and impeccably researched.

In this novel, we are introduced to Eliza Raine, a 14 year old biracial (white father and Indian mother who now has a guardian) girl living at a girls' school in York, England in the early 1800s. A new girl named Anne Lister moves into her room, and her life changes forever.

This novel is full of small moments as these two move from strangers to friends to more. I got author Sarah Waters vibes as I read this, and I drank it down. The characters at this school are so well-drawn, and I loved seeing their interactions.

The rather long chapters that show their days at the school are interspersed with rather short letters from Eliza to Anne a decade later, and you can tell that their friendship/relationship has changed from what we see.

The downfall of this novel is that there isn't much of a plot. The quiet, everyday moments are great, but for much of the time I'm waiting for a big incident that never happens. So I had a little bit of reader frustration from that (hence the one-star subtraction).

Swoon. This book will, no doubt, be among my best of 2023. I've been fascinated by Anne Lister for years now - even before she came to widespread attention due to the amazing HBO series Gentleman Jack. What's not to like? She was brazen, bold, and so very much her own Any story about a queer person with agency is a winner, and that Lister lived in Regency England makes it all the more admirable. Hats off to the author, Emma Donoghue. This is a triumph.

The story takes place, in part, during 1805/1806, when the narrator, the orphaned Eliza Raine, meets and is roommates with Anne Lister at the Manor House, a boarding school in Yorkshire,. They are 13 and 14 years old, respectively. The two are fast friends and eventually fall sweetly, passionately in love. Eliza is entranced by Lister's refusal to conform to any expectations of a young woman in Regency England; Lister is entranced - perhaps - by Eliza's exoticism (she's likely half East Indian, having been born to an English surgeon and "unknown" mother in what is now Chennai, India). The reader also sees Eliza as a 24-year-old woman, as she writes letters to Lister that she will never send. These letters are raw with emotion and heartbreak. I couldn't get enough.

I pre-ordered this book as soon as I learned of its pending publication, and I'm thrilled to have had the chance to give an early review in exchange for an early copy. I still want this book, so I've ordered a hardcover. I'm certain I'll read it again. It's that good.

Absolutely heartbreaking fictionalized history novel. Beautiful exploration of love and friendship set in an all-girls boarding school in early 20th century rural England. I don't want to spoil any of the plot, but this one is definitely worth a read!

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the ARC.

<i>Time. Its great scythe cuts down all before it. My childhood is a distant country that no ship can reach. I had a sister - have one still, on paper - but we are nothing akin, quite lost to each other. I once had a father, but full fathom five he lies. I once had a mother, how long since I forgot how to speak her tongue. Dearer than all these, I once had a friend who was far more than that; a beloved whose name will ever be graven on my heart.</i>

This book is a heartbreaker. Through meticulous research, Emma Donoghue has set her brilliant pen toward the indomitable Anne Lister, "the first modern lesbian", an historical figure made even more popular by the show, <i>Gentleman Jack</i>. But more than that, the novel is about one of Lister's partners throughout life - Eliza Raine, a biracial girl expelled from India, who goes to Lister's boarding school and soon becomes her best friend and after a while, her lover and "wife". I put wife in quotation marks only because obviously their marriage was not recognized and was completed via a private ceremony without witnesses, when they were teenagers.

Though Lister is a fascinating character, the real scorching personality here is Eliza. The novel's structure is such that we catch glimpses of the future, through her letters to Lister, and we receive a front-row seat to their friendship and eventual relationship as girls at the school. Throughout this, we also watch as all of these girls come-of-age during such a turbulent time - full of promise and fear and confusion. Donoghue does a wonderful job of making that period of time come to exhilarating life and each character is fully fleshed and realized - even the teachers.

Toward the end, I felt the impending doom and while I never mind reality setting in, I was upset by what <spoiler>happened to Eliza and how Lister didn't even try to save her from the asylum. It was eye-opening as to what happened to women who didn't "behave" during that time and depressing, truth be told.</spoiler>

Generally though, this was a truly beautiful novel, full of heart and women and history and meaning. Emma Donoghue never disappoints.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This one just wasn't my cup of tea. I loved the sound of the plot but I wasn't crazy about the writing style. This is my first time reading Donoghue and I can see why people like her style, but it just isn't for me. However, please take this with a grain of salt; I am picky about writing styles and sometimes you just don't mesh with some authors.

You should definitely check this one out if you're a fan of Donoghue's other works, or if you like epistolary novels (several chapters are written as letters between Raine & Lister).

I love Emma Donoghue, so was very excited to read her latest! And once again, it did not disappoint. It is full of heartbreak, hope, and is an intense ride. Learned By Heart was one that was hard to put down from the beginning to the end.

Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read and liked Room and Wonder so I expected to like this. But I was not prepared for Learned by Heart.

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.

I typically don’t do any research or pre-reading before I read anything, not even the short summary, so I didn’t know this is based on the true story of two girls. I wasn’t prepared for how intense this was! Full of the passion, intensity, emotions and heartbreak that often accompany first love between two young women during a time when their relationship was dangerous and must be kept secret. When I finished Learned by Heart. I wasn’t satisfied with the ending - I wanted to know more! When I read the author’s note at the end of the book detailing the extensive research that had been done for this book and on the life of Anne Lister, I went down that historical rabbit hole. I’m still reading and learning about Anne and Eliza.

Loved this book and love learning about the lives of the women it is based on!