A heartbreakingly gorgeous novel based on the true story of two girls who fall secretly, deeply and dangerously in love at boarding school in nineteenth century York, from the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder

Finalist for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize

National Bestseller

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.

EMMA DONOGHUE was born in Dublin and lived in England for many years before moving to Canada. She writes in many genres, including theatre, radio drama and literary history, but is best known for her fiction, both historical (Slammerkin, The Sealed Letter, Astray, Frog Music) and contemporary (Stir-Fry, Hood, Landing, Touchy Subjects). Her seventh novel, Room, won the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Canada and the Caribbean region) and was shortlisted for the Man Booker and Orange Prizes. It sold more than two million copies. Donoghue scripted the film adaptation, a Canadian-Irish film by Lenny Abrahamson starring Brie Larson, which was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. And her most recent novel, The Wonder, was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2016.

Emma Donoghue's profile page

• Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year
• Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
• CBC Books Best of Canadian Fiction

“Emma Donoghue is a genius of compassion. With her, the ethical imagination is always paramount. In our fractured world she brings a great sense of repair to us all. Her stories bind us back together.” — Colum McCann, award-winning author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin

“A glorious, richly imagined, compassionate tale.” — Toronto Star

“Learned by Heart is a salient, passionate example of how historical fiction can expose and enrich histories that are otherwise obscured.” — Quill & Quire

“Well crafted, remarkable.” — Canadian Living

“With devastating detail, Learned by Heart serves up the soaring joy and bottomless aches of first love.” — Zoomer

“A dangerous and passionate love story.” — Toronto Life

“A heartbreaking novel that is sure to stick with you long after you’ve turned the last page.” — The Suburban

“Emma Donoghue is a writer who with each novel presents us with something completely different than the one before — always surprising and inventive.” — Parry Sound-Muskoka Region

“A beautiful and engaging new novel.” — Winnipeg Free Press