Learning by Heart

by Elizabeth McGregor

One small, faded, leather-bound journal. One photograph in a newspaper. These two seemingly small items are set to change lives forever. Just when career success seems set fair for Zeph's writer husband Nick, she discovers that he has been having an affair. Wounded and angry, she turns to her mother for support, only to discover that the past has also come back to haunt Cora, a person who always seemed utterly flawless. For now comes evidence of Cora's own long-ago relationship with a famous man, a man who so adored Zeph's mother that he never forgot her. Zeph is forced to see her own childhood, and the bond with her beloved father, in an entirely new light. Was she really loved, as her mother and father tried to deal with their problems? Was their happiness a sham, as hers and Nick's threatens to be? And how much can you trust the person who tells you that they love you? As Zeph struggles to piece together her shattered images of husband and parent, she suddenly realises the connection between herself and the writer of the journal which has appeared in the morning mail, posted from Italy; a last gift from a dying man, an anonymous and passionate stranger..... Set in both England and the alluringly beautiful island of Sicily, A YEAR IN THE LIGHT explores the complexities and subtleties of marriage, of lasting love and human frailty.

Genres: Roman, Romance

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
______

Elizabeth McGregor is a pseudonym for Elizabeth Cooke. She also writes as Holly Fox.

Reviews

[Tmstprc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful storytelling.

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 sterren - Nederlandse paperback

Net wanneer de man van Zeph eindelijk succes heeft als schrijver, ontdekt ze dat hij een affaire heeft. Boos en verdrietig vertrekt Zeph naar het huis van haar moeder Cora. Maar in plaats van rust vindt ze er nog grotere verwarring. Ze krijgt het bewijs in handen dat haar eigen moeder ook een affaire heeft gehad, terwijl ze samen met haar man het eiland Sicilië bezocht. Een heftige, kortstondige affaire met een man die later een beroemde schrijver is geworden, een man die haar aanbad en haar nooit is vergeten.

Omdat ik "het ijskind" van zelfde auteur goed beschreven en interessant vind, besloot ik dit boek te gaan lezen. Het heeft mij echter minder kunnen boeien.

De inhoud vind ik te voorspelbaar en door onnodige uitstapjes in het verhaal haakte ik soms even af. Ik had dan echt mijn notitieblokje erbij nodig.

Daarnaast las het boek vrij gemakkelijk en vond ik het toch boeiend om door te lezen.

Het verhaal bestaat uit twee verhaallijnen, waarbinnen zich ook flashbacks en dromen afspelen, daarnaast nog een aantal dagboekfragmenten. Het geheel grijpt wel goed in elkaar.

Het is geen Ijskind maar zeker niet slecht.

[Layla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intergenerational cheating was ick. Fmc finds out mmc cheated (6 times, was obsessed with ow) and that she was the product of an affair her 30 yr old mom had with a 19 yr old. And both actions were kind of excused by the mom. “It’s not as bad as being abusive” (referring to her daughters husband cheating) and “I loved them both” (referring to her own affair). Made me uncomfortable. Also all the big revelations happened in the characters’ heads. Mmc getting his head out of his ass was only seen through his inner monologue. And since he still doesn’t know how to communicate I think it’s highly likely he’ll cheat again. Idk just not for me.

[Nerissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn’t interested in Cora’s story, which I feel was the main storyline and therefore I found zaph and nicks story sorely lacking.

[Kay Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I found this book a little confusing at the start with it keep flicking from past to present it did get better and in the end I did enjoy it. I am glad that I didn't give up on the book as I thought I would.

[Mari Ruuska · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5⭐
Mitäköhän tästä oikein voisi sanoa... Ei nyt totaalisen huono kirja, mutta ei mitenkään erityisen hyväkään. Aika mitäänsanomaton. Kirjan pääjuonteena kulkevat sekä äidin että tyttären rakkaustarinat. Alussa kumpaakin tarinaa kasvatetaan paljon ja niihin kohdistetaan lukijan mielenkiinto. Lopussa kuitenkin kaikki kuitataan pikaisella ja ohkaisella (ja myös hyvin tylsällä) päätöksellä.

[Heli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a nice, easy and entertaining book to read.

[Alex Stöckli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hin und her zwischen kitsch und ok

[Em · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dit boek leest makkelijk weg maar heeft verder weinig om het lijf. Het boek gaat overigens niet over Zeph, maar over Cora en een klein beetje over Zeph. Niet de moeite waard om te lezen.

[Merry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learning By Heart was another library pick, another one I was pleased to bring home and discover is written by someone, Elizabeth McGregor, who has consistently good reviews on Amazon.

This is the book that referred to glass blowers in Murano, is set half in Italy, has two time lines and is about love affairs and lost children across the years. It has also, just for the record, a family with four sisters and a younger brother, marriages in jeopardy and is in fact threaded with a theme of synchronicity, of people just happening to meet people and be in places at the right moment :lol: Oh, and it has a couple with a young son and infertility to go along with it. Oh yes, and it starts with a mourning parade on Good Friday. You have to laugh.

So, you know ;)

I was surprised by how much I was drawn in to this; although it is essentially a book with 2 female characters at the centre, they are relatively hard to know; the book captures both at a ‘moment’ in their life and both are a little adrift in a mess of life and emotions. The story is told more by the 3 men who love them, two husbands and a lover. The plot unravels more of their lives - infidelity, infertility, loss and grief, love and rejection – than it does of the women. It is quite refreshing in a way (and I recognised something of one of them too, which made it all the more compelling) and certainly a different take on a well established format. It was subtly done and all the people and places felt very real, even if it was just a snapshot of lives.

The book is, essentially, the story of Cora and Zeph, at turning points in their life. It follows Cora through her first move from home, the shocking reality of being a single young woman in London and then the change that a safe and ordinary marriage brings. Half of the book is the journal of a man who loved her and the descriptions of Sicily really made me want to pack up and go immediately. I’ve got a feeling Italy is telling me I need to visit. For Zepf, the book is about finding her courage when her marriage fails and finding out more about her mother and everything that was hidden from view in her life.

I’d give this 8/10. I’m not sure I would need to read it again, or own it, but I’ll certainly read more by the author and I don’t hesitate to recommend. A very enjoyable read.

[ANTC · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars. Not a romance -- ambiguous ending as to whether the heroine gets back with her cheating husband. In my opinion, the hero is absolutely not redeemed and will cheat again. Here's why:

- When the heroine confronts the hero about the cheating, the hero continuously refutes the allegations until she finally reveals she has irrefutably evidence via a close friend. He never would have told her otherwise. This shows that the hero is untrustworthy, sneaky, and does not feel guilty enough to face consequences.
- The hero's affair with OW was very passionate -- he was obsessed with her, thought about sex with her constantly, even when he was having sex with this wife.
- During the affair, he mentions that he didn't feel guilty AT ALL until 3 weeks into it, at which point he goes to OW to end it...but tells her he doesn't even really want to. Then, during this "breakup" with OW he gets suspicious that OW is also having sex with someone else (hypocritical since he's still sleeping with the heroine, HIS WIFE)...and he gets so insanely jealous over it and has sex with OW again. So if this sex with OW is so meaningless, as we're told later when the hero is seeking forgiveness...why is he so primally jealous of OW sleeping with someone else?
- Once the heroine confronts the hero about the affair and leaves him to go to her mother's home, the OW makes a visit to the hero again at their house. He is still in lust with her and can't even look at her because "she's so pretty". The OW comes onto him again and is about to suck his d*ck...until the hero remembers that while he was with her, she was also sleeping with someone else. That fact gives him the final motivation to kick OW out of the house and chase after his wife.


ANYWAYS, all this adds up to the conclusion that this man is absolutely vulnerable to cheating again once he falls in lust with another pretty face. The only reason he really ended the affair with OW is because the author basically made the OW a slut who was also sleeping with other people. If the OW had been *normal* and exclusive with him - he'd still be with her.

[Adensanti · Rating 2 out of 5]

not really sure why the zeph took back the cheater. the author doesnt convinced me well, knowing how the author wrote the husband inner thought about that other women. he was soo in lust that he even promised her to leaved his wife just so he can stick his D (literally this happened) in one of their tryst. the other women even threatened to leave the husband if he doesnt promised her that. and he said yes. he even got jealous of her closeness w/another man. and he made her swear not to sleep w/that man. i mean... how you recovered from this info? swept it under the rug and labeled it as "lust"? as madness? ha! and the husband doesnt even look that guilty. when zepth confronted him, all he said was "dont take josh (their son)". a good weekly schedule after the divorced can solved this you knw. why should zepth took him back w/no effort at all? where's the grovel?.

also, this novel told waaayyyyy to much story about zepth mother's affair. like pages of pagess. and i got bored w/it, so i skipped it. why would i read the mother's affair romance, when the MC in this novel should be zepth and the cheating bastard. and ofcourse as a cheater herself, the mom advice zepth to take her husband back. as always. i rather read a story about zepth and how she took the cheater back (lack of process, grovel, and everything), instead of reading the past story of someone that already died. as always. the book that have a cheating theme, will never have a good plot to convinced us that the HEA between the wife and the cheater is accepted, so why not fill in w/another affair story from the mother's era? blagh...

[Jessica Vermeylen · Rating 3 out of 5]

nederlandse tittel : eiland van licht