Learned By Heart

Shortlisted for the Atwood Gibson Prize.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.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 the beautiful and moving new historical novel from acclaimed author Emma Donoghue.'A rich and spellbinding 19th-century story of forbidden love' – Independent'Donoghue evokes a relationship that is convincing and exquisitely touching.' – The Guardian

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., Offers a refreshing perspective on a celebrated figure in LGBTQ+ history, A slow burning love story of first love. The girls do not so much discover love as feel they are inventing it., An exquisite coming-of-age love story, Spellbinding . . . A moving portrait of two young women who are willing to risk everything for love'

Born in Dublin in 1969, and now living in Canada, Emma Donoghue writes fiction (novels and short stories, contemporary and historical), as well as drama for screen and stage. Room was a New York Times Best Book of 2010 and a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth and Orange Prizes, selling between two and three million copies in forty languages. Donoghue was nominated for an Academy Award for her 2015 adaptation starring Brie Larson. She co-wrote the screenplay for the film of her novel The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh.