Learned By Heart : An Afternoon with Emma Donoghue

From a giant of queer literature, Learned By Heart is the heartbreaking story of the love of two women - Anne Lister, the real-life inspiration behind Gentleman Jack, and her first love, Eliza Raine.

'Donoghue conjures a whole new world' - The Observer

In 1805, at a boarding school in York, two fourteen-year-old girls first meet. Eliza Raine, the orphan daughter of an Indian mother, keeps herself apart from the other girls, tired of being picked out for being different. Anne Lister, a gifted troublemaker, is determined to conquer the world, refusing to bow to society's expectations of what a woman can do.

As they fall in love, the connection they forge will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Full of passion and heartbreak, evocative and wholly unique, Learned by Heart is the dazzling novel from acclaimed author Emma Donoghue.

About our Author:

Born in Dublin in 1969, and now living in Canada, Emma Donoghue writes fiction (novels and short stories, contemporary and historical, most recently Haven), as well as drama for screen and stage. Room was a New York Times Best Book of 2010 and a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth and Orange Prizes, selling between two and three million copies in forty languages. Donoghue was nominated for an Academy Award for her 2015 adaptation starring Brie Larson. She co-wrote the screenplay for the film of her 2016 novel The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh (Netflix, 2022). For more information, visit www.emmadonoghue.com.