Heart the Lover

Reviews / Votes

Touching, thoughtful, a deeply affecting love story about time and regret -- DAVID NICHOLLS Lily King is an exceptionally good writer . . . vivid, moving and witty. . . King's novel got me straight in the heart * * Guardian * * The novel is steeped in yearning, melancholy and the reckoning with mortality that must come to us all . . . It can also be very funny . . . it's a celebration of fiction and how writing can help us to work through tumultuous feelings . . . even as she lets us see how she pulls the strings and evokes our response, King's writing still pierces you * * The Times * * A triangle charged with secrecy, longing, uncertainty . . . Exploring how first love shapes a lifetime, here is a novel of piercing clarity * * Independent * * King is a master of sexual tension, of the slow build, of gratification torturously delayed. In this respect, Heart the Lover is her best work yet . . . The long-delayed revelations, like the tears, come fast and hot * * New York Times * * Beautifully written . . . I was hooked from the first page * * Daily Mail * * One of the sharpest observers of love, relationships and the human condition writing today . . . an accessibly erudite three-act tale of paths not taken and loves misaligned. Equal parts witty, wise and full-box-of-tissues heartbreaking, Heart the Lover is hands down one of the emotionally uplifting stories you'll read this year * * Marie Claire * * King's language is pared back, her sentences uncluttered, but the novel is studded with nuance . . . a gratifying portrait of a young woman learning to take her writing seriously . . . this is a gorgeous, hopeful, life-affirming novel * * Literary Review * * Indescribably good. It is incredible that Lily has managed to tell such an epic love story in just 250 pages, and I emerged feeling ruined for all other books. I adored these characters and feel lucky to have known them. I'm in awe. A perfect literary love story -- FLORENCE KNAPP A tender, devastating exploration of first love, betrayal and the fateful choices we make at pivotal moments in our lives . . . With lyrical prose and emotional depth, Lily King delivers a beautiful tale of love's enduring imprint that lingers long after the final page * * Woman * *