A review by serendipitysbooks
Learned By Heart by Emma Donoghue

emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Learned by Heart is set in a girls’ boarding school in the early nineteenth century and centres on the relationship that develops between 24 year olds Eliza Raine, a part Indian orphaned heiress, and Anne Lister, who is clearly gifted, definitely non-conformist and sometimes snobbish and self-centred, a very dominant personality. Issues of class, race legitimacy, family, mental health, and belonging all come into play. The intensity and passion of their relationship was particularly well captured as was the intense, slightly claustrophobic atmosphere of the small boarding school. The minute details of school life, the lessons and the rules, provided some interesting colour, detail and context, but soon got tedious - and not just to the schoolgirls! Both Anne Lister and Eliza Raine were real people and this book is based on known facts filled in with inspired and informed imagination. While it didn’t wow me it was a solid read, and Ieaves me keen to explore more of Donoghue’s backlist titles.
 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings