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ClareR (5991 KP) rated Learned by Heart in Books

Sep 20, 2023  
Learned by Heart
Learned by Heart
Emma Donoghue | 2023 | Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
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!).