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Of all the books I’ve read this year, this one moved me the most

Published 17:01 23 Apr 2026 BST

Kat O'Connor

Of all the books I’ve read this year, this one moved me the most

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Heart the Lover has just been nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction

I've read nearly 20 books this year, but none have moved me quite as much as Heart the Lover by Lily King.

This book has stuck with me for months after I finished reading it, and it's one that I often find myself thinking of. The characters feel like people I know, and the plot has broken my heart in ways I never expected.

I think a perfect book will leave an impact on you personally, and Heart the Lover certainly did that. It has hit me a lot and has made me long to see and hug all my friends, slightly dread getting older, appreciate the magic of first love, and understand the mistakes we make as adults so much more.

Heart the Lover has been nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction, and I'm not one bit surprised to see the book honoured in such high regard.

What is Heart the Lover about?

In the fall of her senior year of college, she meets two star students from her 17th-Century Lit class: Sam and Yash. Best friends living off-campus in the elegant house of a professor on sabbatical, the boys invite her into their intoxicating world of academic fervor, rapid-fire banter, and raucous card games. They nickname her Jordan, and she quickly discovers the pleasures of friendship, love, and her own intellectual ambition. Youthful passion is unpredictable, though, and she soon finds herself at the center of a charged and intricate triangle. As graduation comes and goes, the choices made will alter these three lives forever.

Decades later, Jordan is living the life she dreamed of, and the vulnerable days of her youth seem comfortably behind her. But when a surprise visit and unexpected news bring the past crashing into the present, Jordan returns to a world she left behind and is forced to confront the decisions and deceptions of her younger self.

Heart the Lover is one of a kind. It's a story that completely captures your heart and breaks it all in one.

Buy Heart the Lover here.

Buy the Kindle version of Heart the Lover here.