Heart the Lover

By: Lily King

Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman

From the New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers comes a magnificent and intimate new novel of desire, friendship, and the lasting impact of first love.

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

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

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 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 and her own intellectual ambition. But youthful passion is unpredictable, and soon she finds herself at the center of a charged and intricate triangle. As graduation comes and goes, choices made will alter these three lives forever.

Decades later, the vulnerable days of Jordan’s youth seem comfortably behind her. But when a surprise visit and unexpected news brings the past crashing into the present, she returns to a world she left behind and must confront the decisions and deceptions of her younger self.

Written with superb wit and emotional sensitivity fans and critics of Lily King have come to adore, Heart the Lover is a deeply moving love story that celebrates literature, forgiveness, and the transformative bonds that shape our lives. Wise, unforgettable, and with a delightful connective thread to Writers & Lovers, 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.

Critic reviews

"This bittersweet, immersive audiobook unites King with Rebecca Lowman, one of our finest narrative voices. Lowman is at her shape-shifting best as she matches her tone, pace, and timing to each character. The protagonist, who begins the novel in her final days at college, becomes an author. Called “Jordan” by her two brilliant friends, Sam and Yash, she reveals the story of a unique love triangle and then flashes forward to her life decades later as a teacher’s wife, mother of two boys, and successful novelist. The plot takes a doubly dark turn when one of her sons is stricken with a brain tumor and Yash, the bygone love of her life, is diagnosed with cancer. The story’s message, young love persists, keeps the listener engrossed."

Heartbreaking

This one really got me. The story moves quickly and takes you through the main character’s first love in college over several years, showing how certain choices shaped her life in ways she never expected. You can’t help but wish things had gone differently at times, but at the same time, you’re glad they didn’t. It’s that mix of heartbreak and acceptance that just crushes you. It’s complicated and it utterly CRUSHED me.

If you’re in the mood for a good cry, this is the one. It’s a beautiful, emotional story that leaves you thinking about how every decision, even the painful ones, leads you exactly where you’re meant to be. I also really enjoyed the narrator, Rebecca Lowman… her voice kept me connected to the story the whole way through.

Now excuse me while I go put my heart back together. ❤️‍🩹

Heart the Reader

What a great book. Wow, so many feels. Really well read by the narrator. Thank you for this.

Sad and beautiful

It really drew me in. Great character development. Sad but not crushingly so. I really liked it.

Wow

The plot weaves its way into your heart. Heart the Lover. The dialogue is perfect. The story is emotional. Yash and Jordan and Sam.

Excellent!

I absolutely loved this book. The story, the writing, the narration. I loved how the characters got to explore reading and writing and how their lives were shaped by this type of art. It was a wonderful way to end a really, really great year of reading!