Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue

CBC Books | Posted: June 5, 2023 4:28 PM | Last Updated: December 5, 2023

A historical fiction novel about forbidden love

Image | BOOK COVER: Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue

(HarperCollins Canada)

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. (From HarperCollins Canada)

Emma Donoghue is an Irish Canadian writer. Her books include the novels Landing, Room, Frog Music, The Wonder, The Pull of the Stars and the children's book The Lotterys Plus One. Room was an international bestseller and was adapted into a critically acclaimed film starring Brie Larson.

Her novel The Wonder was a finalist for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize and more recently, The Pull of the Stars was longlisted for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize and shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award.

Interviews with Emma Donoghue

Media | Emma Donoghue talks about her new book Learned by Heart ahead of Writer's Fest and KPL stop

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Media Audio | Q : Emma Donoghue: Anne Lister, young queer love, and her new novel Learned By Heart

Caption: Emma Donoghue’s new novel has been decades in the making. “Learned by Heart” tells the story of two young teenagers, Anne Lister and Eliza Raine, who fall in love at their boarding school in England in 1805. Except these characters aren’t that of fiction — they actually existed. Emma tells Tom about when she first discovered the story, how Anne Lister changed her life, and how it feels to finally finish this novel.

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Media Audio | The Next Chapter : Emma Donoghue answers the Proust Questionnaire

Caption: The author of "Room" on her favourite authors, her greatest fear and more.

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Other books by Emma Donoghue

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