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 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