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Heart the Lover

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Heart the Lover

By: Lily King
Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
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About this listen

“You knew I’d write a book about you someday.”

Our narrator understands good love stories – their secrets, their highs and free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the rules.

She was in her senior year of college when star students Sam and Yash swept her into an intoxicating world of academic fervour, rapid-fire banter and raucous card games. Their lives became quickly intertwined – with friendship but also with unpredictable passions and the intimations of first love.

Decades later, she is successful writer, living a comfortable life with her husband and children, when a surprise visit brings the past crashing into the present, forcing her to confront the decisions and deceptions of her youth.

Written with the precision of poetry and the emotional tide of an epic, Heart the Lover is a celebration of literature and the life-long echoes of young love.

This is King at her very best, affirming her as a masterful chronicler of the human experience and one of the finest novelists at work today.

©2025 Lily King (P)2025 Canongate Books Ltd Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt
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Goodness I am Balling my eyes out. Beautiful and moving. Beautiful narration and moving story.

Beautiful and moving

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A sumptuous love story. Thought provoking and beautifully written. Takes me back to my first love experiences.

Bittersweet

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Loved this book. Captured me from the start and I polished it off so quick

Engaging from the start

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This book sticks, it was beautiful to listen to, capturing nuances of life with friends, lovers and family. Rather than tell you explicitly, I felt like it lets you interpret your own feelings through a series of experiences over time. Loved it. Only wish it was longer.

Excellent writing

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What an incredible book! The people we meet, the ones we love, the choices and decisions we make and how it all ends - an age old story so beautifully written. I was an emotional wreck by the end which is very rare. I loved it!

Exquisite!

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