I really enjoyed this book. It brought life to a side of history that is often pushed aside. I could tell the author did a lot of research into life in England in the early 1800's, The East India Company and society's view of sex and lesbianism at the time.

https://lesbrary.com/learned-by-heart-by-emma-donoghue/

Emma Donoghue’s much-anticipated new novel, Learned by Heart (29 August 2023), is a heartfelt biofiction about the life—and love—of Eliza Raine and her relationship with the famous Anne Lister. Drawing on Lister’s copious five-million-word diaries, Donoghue brings Raine’s story to life in this vivid novel.

While Anne Lister’s life and work have become enormously famous over the last five years, with Sally Wainwright’s ground-breaking television series Gentleman Jack centralizing Lister’s lesbian life and diaries, Learned by Heart approaches Lister’s early years through a different lens. Donoghue’s novel is characteristic of Donoghue’s historical biofiction, which rarely tells the stories of famous historical subjects but rather seeks out history’s fragments or outright silences. In this case, Eliza Raine and her life are central to Donoghue’s writing. As an orphaned young girl from India, Eliza arrives in England at six years old with the distinct and lasting sense from those around her that she is other. However, when she meets the young, brash, and brilliant Anne Lister at the Manor School for young ladies when the two girls are fourteen, Eliza finds a kindred spirit—and more.

Learned by Heart is one of my most anticipated novels of 2023, and I was delighted to receive an early copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This novel is another stunning addition to Donoghue’s impressive catalogue of historical fiction, and while series like Gentleman Jack focus on Lister’s later years, with her lovers remaining central but ultimately supporting characters, Donoghue flips the script in her biofiction. Eliza is our protagonist here, and we grow along with her as she moves through a journey of self-discovery. As Anne becomes more and more central to Eliza’s life, she paints a fascinating portrait of the other young girl’s earlier years.

This novel was everything I hoped for and more. Learned by Heart transports its readers to nineteenth-century York with its vivid descriptions and minute details, and typical of Donoghue’s writing, no part of nineteenth-century girlhood is overlooked. Years of research and dedication shine through in this novel, especially in the supplementary information at the close of the text. While this novel is a sweeping narrative in its own right, Lister researchers and historians will also adore Learned by Heart.

I can’t recommend Learned by Heart enough as the perfect historical fiction to read this fall! Learned by Heart hits shelves on August 29, 2023.

Please add Learned by Heart to your TBR on Goodreads and follow Emma Donoghue on Twitter.

I was incredibly disappointed with this novel. I am a huge Emma Donoghue fan and I was excited to read her latest. The dialogue between the teenage girls seemed all wrong, I actually forgot they were in a boarding school. Unfortunately it was so very boring.

I went into this knowing a bit about Anne Lister, but not any great detail. I found the book interesting and felt it moved at a decent pace. I enjoyed hearing about Anne’s relationships, but felt bad for Eliza. It seems like she got the rough end of the deal.

Based on the real life Anne Lister and one of her early relationships - Learned by Heart is set from Eliza's perspective and documents their meeting at a girls school in the early 1800's England and how their relationship unfolds, sending her slowly into madness. At times difficult to follow and a bit tedious, it's a heartbreaking story of two girls discovering themselves, and falling apart in the process.

Emma Donoghue is such a great writer of historical fiction, and I especially like her books, which have a romantic element to them, as this book does.

Inspired by letters found from a young love of Anne Lister's from their boarding school days, the story is told from 14-year-old Eliza's point of view. Kept as an outsider due to her mixed heritage as a wealthy daughter of an English man and his Indian wife, when Anne comes to school, they are bunked together. Anne is everything Eliza is not and inspires, tempts, taunts, and brings her out of her shell. With Anne, Eliza can imagine a different world and future for herself.

The pace is languid, the writing lovely, and all the more sad about how their story ended.

I enjoyed it very much and want to thank the publisher for giving me access to the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

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.