Thank you for my audio arc of this book. I struggled with the narration of this so didn’t finish. Thank I will pick it up on ebook.

I wasn’t getting on with the book from Netgalley so I requested the audio thinking one or the other or both might increase my enjoyment after all, I do so like this authors books.

It’s very well researched and so informative but I have to be honest, it was so slow I got easily bored then distracted.

I did plough through though (which was easier using audio at high speed)

This one wasn’t for me personally, some have liked this well enough though so don’t let me put you off.

Well-researched historical fiction based upon the real life relationship between Anne Lister and Eliza Raine. I liked that this was centred upon Eliza Raine instead of the well-known Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack) and gave a different viewpoint to first love in a world where their love would not have been accepted.

This was heartbreaking as it was clear that the relationship was doomed from the start, but I didn't feel connected to the characters which detracted from the impact that the story could have had on me. At times it did feel like the meticulous research that was done by Emma Donoghue was used in the novel solely because she had the research rather than because it fit with the story that she wanted to tell.

This book was tender and slow which personally is not a type of pace that suits me as a reader. I absolutely think some people will love this but it wasn't made for me. I would recommend this to fans of historical romance or those who would like a slightly languid read.

Learned by Heart is set in a boarding school for young ladies York in 1805. Eliza has travelled from India and has not settled in the school until Anne arrives. They form a strong friendship which leads to them falling in love until fate separates them.
This is a really interesting novel in terms of the expectations of worn at the time, but is quite slow paced at times.

Emma Donoghue is one of my favourite writers of historical fiction and this one certainly doesn't disappoint. Set in York during the early 19th century, it tells the story of Eliza, an orphan from India who is now boarding at a school in the city. During the year that follows, she shares a room with Anne Lister and a deep relationship follows. Emma Donoghue is an absolute master of creating very real characters in a wholly believable setting and, although she obviously researches it all very deeply, she shows this with a very light touch. The background is given so everything is in context but the characters never give us this background with artificial dialogue - we know the Napoleonic wars are going on, the characters talk of them and feel fear of the threat of invasion but the dialogue about it feels natural and doesn't labour the point. The characters of Eliza and Anne are very well drawn and the passionate friendships and relationships of young girls is also well done but everyone is flawed to an extent and as a result, they feel real. Anne Lister, especially, really comes to life and is shown to be an extraordinary person all the more because of the times she is living in. I was amazed at the author's note at the end of the book to read how much was based on the true story and that absolutely added to it - I'm glad I only found out at the end though as the surprise was all the more. Emma Donoghue, in the note, says how long this book has been developing in her head and it shows, everything is so well thought through and beautifully put together.
The narrator also did an excellent job on the audio version.

#LearnedbyHeart #NetGalley

If you're interested in this literary gem, I recommend the audio version. It's a beautiful prose read by Shiromi Arserio whose voice is a great fit to this book.

This is a slow-burn romance between two young girls at the beginning of the 19th century. While I appreciated the writing, it actually felt like a slow-killed romance. The sluggish pace of the storytelling was hard to ignore and I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of events in the book. The daily routine of girls in a boarding school is, well, boring, even if the figure of Anne Lister was a breath of fresh air. To be fair, without this book I would have never heard of her, the first modern lesbian.

Many thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan UK Audio for an Advance Review Copy of this audiobook.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Disclaimer: I wrote my Master's dissertation on Anne Lister, so firstly: I probably know too much background information. I don't think you necessarily have to know anything about Anne Lister to enjoy this book though.

And secondly: I think it's a compliment to Emma Donoghue that this is the thing to get me to engage with Anne Lister again five years after finishing my MA (I still haven't watched Gentleman Jack). Donoghue is one of my favourite authors so of course I wanted to read her take on a subject close to my heart.

Eliza Raine is little more than a footnote in Anne Lister's life. What we know about her is that she was Anne Lister's first love, that she met her at school, and that she was apparently of Indian descent. Emma Donoghue takes this tidbit and runs with it, immersing us in the world of a girls’ boarding school in the early 19th century. What Donoghue does so brilliantly in her historical writing is her attention to detail as we follow the girls’ lives — their games, their lessons, their takes on the French revolution; and also the perils that come from being a moderately wealthy girl at this time — the ever present spectre of death, marriage, and poverty. Eliza’s challenges as a self-proclaimed ‘lady of colour’ in Britain at the height of its empire are well explored, and her Lister is in my view perfectly captured. Shiromi Arserio’s Lister voice — boisterous and oh so Yorkshire — is spot on.

I have two small issues with the book: This is too much of my own research getting in the way, but: my understanding of the Raine/Lister relationship is that Raine was the butch one, and I kind of wanted to see that instead of Lister being explicitly the "husband" here. But it's a minor quibble and might be me just misremembering things.

Also, specific to the audiobook, it does not include the author’s note at the end (neither does the final published version, apparently). It just seems a shame when it has so much interesting context and shows the depth of Donoghue’s historical research. Apart from that the audiobook was wonderful; so, listen to the audio, but do read the author’s note standing up in a bookshop, as I did lmao.

As someone who has loved the few Emma Donoghue books I've read, and someone who previously lived in York, I found this book to be a fun and engaging tale of the city's odd history, especially its stories of underground queer lives.

For fans of stories about Anne Lister, this covers a similar ground, of hidden desires and the ways characters had to find ways to express themselves under the most hidden circumstances.

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Having read books by this author, previously, I was really looking forward to this novel. Although the narrator Shiromi Arserio does a fabulous job with the story, it just fell a little flat for me. Based on the journals of Anne Lister, the novel tells of her time at boarding school and her first relationship with Eliza Raine, another border at the school when they were 14. The author had obviously done her research, but at times, it felt that the novel drifted into a history lesson. I was unable to warm to the characters and felt that Lister was such a strong personality that she dominated that of Eliza. Although not for me, I think this novel will be loved by lots of other readers. Many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to listen to the audio of this novel in return for an honest review.

Learned by Heart is the fictionalised account of two women who really did exist: Eliza Raine and Anne Lister (also known as Gentleman Jack). I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator Shiromi Arserio, really brought the characters, all teenage girls for the most part, to life. Together with Emma Donoghue’s impeccable, compassionate writing, it made for an emotional and heartbreaking novel.

Both girls are outsiders: Eliza is an orphan of an English doctor and an Indian mother. Anne isn’t like any of the other girls, and doesn’t want to conform to expectations. They end up sharing a room and forge a close friendship. They eventually fall in love.

Anne is the person that Eliza is too shy to be. Eliza looks different - she’s darker skinned, and everyone knows that she was Indian. So she tries to avoid too much notice. Anne doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. Together they are able to make school more bearable.

Interspersed in the story of their time at school are Eliza’s letters written to Anne. Letters that are never sent. Eliza is in an asylum at a point in the future, and she doesn’t want the doctors to know about her relationship with Anne. These were such desperately sad parts - Eliza has lost Anne, perhaps partly due to her illness.

I thought the writing reflected the emotional inner life of teenagers so well. The overwhelming emotions and the fact that these were still children who were being forced to act as adult women in a regimented, emotionless setting.

I loved this. It was meticulously researched, and this enriched the story right up to its heartbreaking end. This really is well worth a read (or a listen!).

Unfortunately the audiobook was corrupted for me. So I'll only be rating it 3 stars.

It's a book I'll keep an eye out for and hopw to come back to at a later date. I was definitely intrigued by the blurb and have heard good things about the author Emma Donoghue.

Unfortunately due to a corrupted audio file I was unable to listen to the whole book. Each chapter started correctly but then repeated the same few sentences over and over. Very disappointed as I enjoy Emma Donoghue's writing. I did inform NetGalley, who were helpful but unable to send a corrected proof. The book sounded very promising and the narrator sounded wonderful. I hope to read the complete book in the future.

It sounded interesting. But audiobook had some glitch which meant the same 10 sentences kept repeating in each chapter. Giving the stars for the interesting start of each of the chapters I tried

I liked this book but not as much as other books by the author. I thought the setting was interesting, but it was a bit of a slow burn. I liked learning about Anne Lister.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Having previously read Room (pre blog), Akin and A Pull of Stars, Emma Donoghue is pretty much an auto-buy author for me. Sadly the audio book here was faulty but luckily I had a paper ARC to read.
The year is 1805 and Eliza Raine attends the exclusive King’s Manor boarding school in York – she was born in India and is the orphan of an Indian mother and a British father. Her skin colour sets her aside from the others girls and she is tends to keep herself to herself. When outspoken new pupil and tomboy Anne Lister arrives at the Manor, Eliza is instantly entranced and is thrilled when Lister is assigned to share a room with her. Lister constantly pushes the boundaries of their strict school teachers and isn’t a typical young lady. Eliza is more reserved and does what is expected of her and she is thrilled when Lister signals her out for friendship.
As the girl’s friendship becomes more intense, they fall in love. They obviously have to keep it a secret but the intensity of their feelings make it hard but they have grand plans to spend the rest of their lives together, travelling away from England.
The events of the story are told in just under a year from Eliza’s viewpoint and interspersed with letters from Raine to Lister 10 years later. I hadn’t realised when I started this that some of the story is based on fact. Anne Lister was the real-life inspiration for Gentleman Jack. Learned by Heart is very much a character driven novel, which starts slowly but is none-the-less engrossing.
The romance and passion of their relationship is done really well. Raine and Lister are absolutely obsessed with each other and literally cannot keep their hand off each other but their love story is told with tenderness.
Learned by Heart is a wonderful piece of historical fiction that was evocative and romantic and I loved the characters of Eliza and Lister and their adventures they had.

I can’t really review this audiobook because of technical difficulties. I downloaded the title on the app and have been unable to listen as it keeps repeating and skipping at each chapter. I rebooted my phone and had no other option than to delete the download and try to download again. However, once the title was deleted, it wouldn’t download again in the app. I’m not sure how to rectify this issue so I left a positive/neutral star rating. If the publisher is able to send me a link to download the title again, I’d love to listen and review!

Brought to England as a child, Eliza is the orphaned daughter of an East India Company officer and his Indian wife. The school she attends is both her home and her lesson for life in this country. Isolated from the other girls in a variety of ways, Eliza’s first true friend arrives in the form of Anne Lister - “just Lister” - who challenges Eliza and brightens the closeted environment of the school.

It is a long, summering burn, and the subtle tensions were quiet and contemplative. While I wouldn’t recommend it to plot-driven readers, I think it’s great for people who enjoy the small but meaningful moments between people as they grow, together and apart. The writing was exquisite, and the setting was meticulously researched, both standard Donoghue affairs. And oh how I adore these two girls. Sharp and bold Lister, incurably fascinated by the world. Lonely and loving Eliza, just trying to find her place in the world. It felt like a sweet honour to watch their friendship then romance blossom, before inevitably diminishing as they left the bubble of the school.

Unfortunately I felt let down by the ending. The structure of the book has the girls at the school together, falling in love and getting into scrapes, interspersed with letters written by Eliza ten years later. This structure lends itself to a ‘meeting’ of sorts - where the past timeline meets up with the present in some way. A the way this happened was understated and poignant, much like the rest of the book, it just wasn’t…. Enough. I’m not satisfied - such is the risk with historical fiction based on real figures, when their lives don’t lend themselves to dramatic denouements, I just wish I’d been left with more than this feeling of deflation.

I received a free copy of the audiobook from NetGalley in return for an honest review. I very much enjoyed Shiromi Arserio' narration.

For the most part I enjoyed this queer coming of age story set in a regency girls school about the first love of the famous Ann Lister (Gentleman Jack), an anglo-indian girl sent across the sea to be finished in England, who feels disconnected from those around her until she meets her twin flame. It is told across two time periods, for the most part in 1805/6 when the girls are 14/15, but with interjections in the form of letters sent 10 years earlier where our main character Eliza's fate is unfolded. I have read Donoghue before and enjoyed her writing, she is good at bringing to life an atmosphere and drawing fully fleshed characters, which was true in this book as well. However, I did feel that the letters portion was a little cliche and caricatured, it became over the top and lost that sense of verisimilitude. This may have been in part due to the performance of the reader in this audiobook, but I also felt the writing did not hold up here. I also don't understand why it was necessary to intersperse it in that way, and the actual journey from 14 to 24 was not fully explored, leaving it feeling a little rushed and vague at the end.

For start this review I need thank NetGalley and the publisher for the access to this ARC. This is a heartwarming story about the relationship between two girls. The book is beautiful written and I find the exploration of the relationship between friendship and love very interesting. I love how the author teach us about racism and real troubles that still today affect our societies. If I need describe this book it will be a perfect journey and storytelling of a relationship.

This is the third novel I have read by Emma Donoghue, and she continues to impress. Each of her books are so completely different to one another, so you never know what to expect before you begin, only that the writing will be assured and comfortably familiar, and that whatever the story she has chosen to tell, will be told respectfully and to it’s fullest impact.

Learned by Heart tells the tale of Eliza Raine, an orphaned daughter of an Indian mother, and of Anne Lister, a troublemaker, refusing to bow to society’s expectations of her. Neither one feels like they fit in, until they find friendship and forbidden love in one another.

I had no prior knowledge of their story, so I went in blind, ready to let the story unfold.

I cherished them both from start to finish. Donoghue paints such vivid characters and she transports you to a very exact time and place, which I just adore. Her prose has a clear and quiet quality to it that I really enjoy. It’s not over-fussy, it’s not bold, it’s not over done. it’s just precise and I love it.

That being said it’s not without its flaws, and it won’t work for some readers. It is beautifully told, but it’s very slow. Those familiar with this authors work will know this is something of a trademark, her other novels never move at a pace either, but whereas in some cases (her last release ‘Haven’ particularly) the slow pace adds to the story, here I think it’s too slow for the story being told. It tries to stay intimate, but at the cost of plot and pace, and for some readers this will be a turn off.