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Product Description
Product Description
Set in the late 1950s, this is the story of Evelyn Hall, an English Professor, who goes to Reno to obtain a divorce and put an end to her disastrous 16-year marriage. While staying at a boarding house to establish her six-week residency requirement she meets Ann Childs, a casino worker and fifteen years her junior. Physically, they are remarkably alike and eventually have an affair and begin the struggle to figure out just how a relationship between two women can last. Desert of the Heart examines the conflict between convention and freedom and the ways in which the characters try to resolve the conflict
About the Author
Jane Rule (1931-2007) was born in New Jersey. She became a Canadian citizen in the 1960s. Author of seven novels, short stories, essays and criticism, and university lecturer, Rule was the recipient of several awards including the Canadian Authors' Association Award for Best Novel (1978) and the Order of Canada (2007).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
That's the only word for the way Jane Rule handles the evolving relationship between Ann, the young girl living in Reno and Evelyn, the older academic woman who turns up to get an instant divorce. If this book does not have you in goose bumps most of the time, I can't think what will. The characters are beautifully painted and contrasted, their actions always seem so very real as they converge and finally surrender to each other. The surrounding characters are equally well defined. Ms Rule has a way of portrayal that speaks from actions and words rather than long descriptions. A thoroughly absorbing book that had me sitting on the edge of my seat at the end. One of her best stories.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Vivien, an English professor at a prestigious Californian university in the 1960's, travel's to Reno in order to obtain a 'quickie' divorce from her husband of some 15 years. Boarding at a ranch-house outside town for 6 weeks (Nevada law states the divorcee must be a resident of the State for at least this period), she meets wildcat casino worker Kay, 'daughter' of the owner of the boarding house. Kay is sexy, vivacious, vibrant and...lesbian. 13 years younger than Vivien, the determined beauty falls in love with the professor and sets about seducing her much to the horror of her 'mother' who's mind is narrowed by the social norms of 1960's America. Vivien can't help herself...
Desert of the Heart was one of the first Lesbian interest books I ever read and is, and always will be, one of my favourites. Jane Rule writes with a style and beauty which captures the reader and inspires pride in no-holds-barred love. Get this book!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
...with blind, gentle precision you take for its own sake the grotesque miracle of love."
10 Dec 2010
Format:Paperback
A controversial figure in the 1950s and 60s, Jane Rule became an icon for lesbian rights before publishing, in 1964, Desert of the Heart. The book is a sensitive, explorative, deliberately unsensational novel, depicting, almost too decorously, a love affair which begins when Evelyn, a lecturer in English, moves to live in Reno where she wants to obtain a divorce from her husband George. The residential requirements of the time called for a six month stay, so Evelyn moves into a boarding house run by Frances Packer and her son Walter, and there is another guest, Ann, a young, attractive woman who works at one of the casinos as a "change-apron girl." These women had to wander the floor, wearing heavy machines strapped to their rib-cage containing the coins with which to make change for the slot-machine customers. We meet several of Ann's friends, including a man who wants to marry her, but whom Ann has rejected. Ann is also a talented cartoonist and works in her spare time on her art which she sells to various magazines.
When it comes to it, Evelyn takes charge. Rule is not expansive on the mechanics, or even much on the feelings. She wears her insight lightly, which is, perhaps, something to be valued.
The setting is unusual, the sex is incidental, the emotions are sometimes rather fraught, but this is an intriguing read with deftly created characters and a nicely worked set of scenarios. It might not light your fire, but manages the slow simmer of its clandestine relationship very well - decorous to the end and true to its inception in the strange mixture of volatility and innocence that made up 1950s North America.
When it comes to it, Evelyn takes charge. Rule is not expansive on the mechanics, or even much on the feelings. She wears her insight lightly, which is, perhaps, something to be valued.
The setting is unusual, the sex is incidental, the emotions are sometimes rather fraught, but this is an intriguing read with deftly created characters and a nicely worked set of scenarios. It might not light your fire, but manages the slow simmer of its clandestine relationship very well - decorous to the end and true to its inception in the strange mixture of volatility and innocence that made up 1950s North America.
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