Read This Book…

A few years ago, I watched the first season of HBO’s Gentleman Jack, a fictionalized mini-series of the very real character of Anne Lister, one of Britain’s most famous lesbians from the early 19th century. Gentleman Jack’s Lister is a brash risk taker and a bit of a rake. But her charisma and pure magnetism capture viewers’ attention.

Emma Donoghue’s Anne Lister is 15 and at boarding school, still gangly and awkward, unsure of herself. But Learned By Heart is told from the perspective of 14-year-old Eliza Raine, a biracial girl with a British father and an Indian mother. Eliza and Lister are thrown together when they are assigned to a room together. Lister is strange to Eliza. She is well-read, cheeky, and unladylike. Eliza feels a pull towards Lister while simultaneously suspecting Lister might become her downfall.

Learned By Heart captures your attention from its first pages, drawing you into the world of two teenage girls. Their school is strict, demanding the utmost obedience displayed through a meek acceptance of authority. But before she even realizes that it’s possible, Eliza has fallen in love with Lister. There’s so much pining and teenage angst. Through Eliza’s eyes, we see what draws her to Lister. Like Eliza, Lister possesses an otherness that sets her apart from the other girls. And before long, Eliza and Lister are smitten, taking more and more risks with their secret relationship.

Donoghue shines brightest in her historical fiction. In her author’s note, she describes the elements of Eliza’s story that she fictionalized, the gaps in the historical record, and what really happened to Eliza after the end of the novel. As Anne Lister’s famous journals (of over five million words) gain more notoriety, Donoghue describes how she felt drawn to Eliza and wanted to highlight a woman she felt was given short shrift.