Desert of the Heart
Published on 22. January 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-349-02087-7 (ISBN)
Description
This was the freedom she wanted, an animal freedom exposed to the emptiness of sky and land and water. As she stepped forward, Ann flipped into the water and was gone.
Evelyn Hall, running from her disastrous marriage of sixteen years, arrives in the neon-lit desert heat of 1950s Reno - the only place in America where she can apply for a quick divorce. Arriving at her guesthouse she meets free-spirited Ann Childs, a casino 'change girl' fifteen years her junior. Overwhelmed by both the vast, lonely beauty of the Nevada desert and her magnetic attraction to Ann, Evelyn must gamble all her own certainties and conventions to win a new kind of freedom.
Bold, witty and shimmering with desire, this groundbreaking 60s novel is an unforgettable queer classic.
INTRODUCED BY JACKIE KAY
'An undisputed lesbian classic' SARAH WATERS
'Intelligent and utterly believable' JOYCE CAROL OATES
'Brave, bold and brilliant' JACKIE KAY
Evelyn Hall, running from her disastrous marriage of sixteen years, arrives in the neon-lit desert heat of 1950s Reno - the only place in America where she can apply for a quick divorce. Arriving at her guesthouse she meets free-spirited Ann Childs, a casino 'change girl' fifteen years her junior. Overwhelmed by both the vast, lonely beauty of the Nevada desert and her magnetic attraction to Ann, Evelyn must gamble all her own certainties and conventions to win a new kind of freedom.
Bold, witty and shimmering with desire, this groundbreaking 60s novel is an unforgettable queer classic.
INTRODUCED BY JACKIE KAY
'An undisputed lesbian classic' SARAH WATERS
'Intelligent and utterly believable' JOYCE CAROL OATES
'Brave, bold and brilliant' JACKIE KAY
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 124 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
205 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-349-02087-7 (9780349020877)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jane Rule (1931-2007) was the author of several novels and essay collections, including the groundbreaking lesbian love story Desert of the Heart (1964), which was made into the feature film Desert Hearts. She was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2007. Born in New Jersey, Rule moved to Canada in 1956, and lived on Galiano Island, British Columbia, until her death at the age of seventy-six.