With this blog post, we continue the Viva's reading blog series with Ana Kompara, which continues for a second year. Let’s reflect on youth, love, and friendship with one of the most widely read books at the moment: Heart the Lover by the acclaimed American author Lily King. What follows is Ana’s written piece…

Ana is wearing Camille Bag Dark Caramel

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

When I started reading one of the current global literary phenomena, adored by both critics and readers, I was genuinely surprised. It reminded me of a crossover between Normal People, The Secret History, and The Catcher in the Rye. But let me try: Heart the Lover is, above all, a story about nostalgia—about that unmistakable feeling in the pit of your stomach that transports you back to a different time and place.

Its narrator, Jordan, once an English literature student who, in her final year at university, unexpectedly found herself caught between two stars of a literary seminar, Sam and Yash, is now an acclaimed writer. She knows all too well those great love stories: their secrets, hidden meanings, slow ascents, and steep falls. But her greatest love story did not follow the rules.

“You know how you can remember exactly when and where you read certain books? A great novel, a truly great one, not only captures a particular fictional experience, it alters and intensifies the way you experience your own life while you're reading it. And it preserves it, like a time capsule."

Not just the book itself, but the idea of how profoundly our lives can be shaped by someone we knew only briefly. It is not merely about acquaintance; it is about the fact that this person knew us—or truly understood us—during a very specific period of our lives. Because of that, that particular version of ourselves remains preserved with them forever.

And it is not only people who have the power to preserve moments in time. Some of our cherished everyday companions do, too—such as a Viva's handbag. When you take it out again, it brings back not only the memories of the time when it became yours, but also memories of the woman you were then: your hopes, dreams, regrets, hidden sorrows, small habits, and everyday joys. You remember when and where you first carried it.

The futured bag: Camille Bag Dark Caramel

And perhaps the next time you open it, you will find an old theatre programme, a cinema ticket, or the receipt from an evening cocktail with a friend. Perhaps, years later, with a touch of nostalgia, you will tell your daughter the story of that bag and all the adventures you shared together. Maybe that bag will even be Camille, the one I carried during the photoshoot for the featured book Heart the Lover.

Despite all the acclaim surrounding it, the novel feels quite different from the typical bestseller, at least in my reading experience. The reasons for this are probably:
1. Its excellent portrayal of the intensity of young love and the disproportionate weight of fleeting decisions from the past when they collide with the realities of middle age.
2. Its powerful atmosphere, created through small details and an emotionally perceptive style in which nothing feels superfluous.
3. The novel is, at times, richly infused with literary references:

“In literature, love is a weakness. Othello is easily manipulated by Iago because of his love for Desdemona. Anna Karenina throws herself under a train.”

“Othello places his trust in Iago, not Desdemona. Anna Karenina’s society does not allow her to be with Vronsky. Love is not the weakness. People get in its way. People are weak and perilous, not love.”

From Ana, Živa, and the Viva's team, we wish you that kind of summer—the kind you will one day look back on with fond nostalgia. A summer filled with sweet memories, meaningful experiences, and quiet moments. And don’t forget to take your Viva's bag with you; it just might become your summer 2026 time capsule.