Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery

List Price: $17.95 Details

Save: $2.66 (15%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Monday, August 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $25. Order within 11 hrs 17 mins

Select delivery location

Only 11 left in stock (more on the way)

$$15.29 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Payment

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Details

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Tuesday, August 15 on orders shipped by Amazon over $25

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by 2nd Life Books ✅

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$10.50
+ $5.99 shipping

Sold by: lakecountrybooks

Added

Not added

$14.86
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: allnewbooks

Added

Not added

$16.34
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: Cyprus City Sales

Flip to back Flip to front

See this image

Follow the Authors

Jane Rule

Desert of the Heart Paperback – July 1, 2005

by Jane Rule (Author)

4.4 252 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$2.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

$192.34

Paperback

"Please retry"

$15.29

$10.50

$2.49

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

$5.95

—

$5.55

Audio CD, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$24.04

—

Kindle
$2.99 Read with Our Free App
Audiobook
$0.00 Free with your Audible trial
Hardcover
from $192.34

2 Used from $192.34
Paperback
$15.29

34 Used from $2.49 16 New from $10.50
Mass Market Paperback
$5.95

5 Used from $5.55
Audio CD
$24.04

2 New from $24.04

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$15.29","priceAmount":15.29,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"15","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"29","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"hY%2BVR2ACJytwQrGDvfpoPSU1fD%2Fi%2BPrOL4qMd94HGiajk%2B43g0keSZE8OhIua%2Fb6XMlxyXamnA2VXmWxzq0K5D6xvoV34%2FET6tVB9vXvr5ADakdT8rhSxJGToC8yF%2BAOTopAfI6gH8E%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$12.80","priceAmount":12.80,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"12","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"80","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"hY%2BVR2ACJytwQrGDvfpoPSU1fD%2Fi%2BPrOvdjDGxndOepl34BF68%2FexKGWoj8dt9a7bZR5YAfxY3pfGnrpz7i5hNefmy4cAmLR%2Fr8JaLpid8SY3xTLvHCpcVc1ZGrDKcVI2yI2f9BUt%2F8dnnFYi7DCKDnnL0oArNu9ORosmeeN%2Fxi0BlAfUxs7aMEjhn8QKcoo","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Evelyn Hall arrives in Reno wanting only to be left alone while she waits six weeks for a painful divorce from her husband. Once there she meets Ann Child - 15 years her junior, who is both a free spirit and a lesbian.

Soon Ann refuses to let the controlled but vulnerable Evelyn ignore the powerful emotions that begin to unleash inside her...

Immortalized for a whole new generation by the film Desert Hearts, Jane Rule's classic DESERT OF THE HEART is arguably her finest novel. Joyce Carol Oates called it an intelligent and utterly believable novel. Told with all the wit and skill of this fine novelist, the book stands as a classic of lesbian literature.

Print length

216 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bella Books
Publication date

July 1, 2005
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

159493035X
ISBN-13

978-1594930355
See all details

Frequently bought together

$15.29

Get it as soon as Monday, Aug 14

Only 11 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

$7.99

Get it as soon as Monday, Aug 14

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

The Well of Loneliness (Wordsworth Classics)

$4.99

Get it as soon as Monday, Aug 14

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Try again!

Details

Added to Cart

Some of these items ship sooner than the others.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

Patricia Highsmith
6,920
Paperback
91 offers from $3.03
Patricia Charbonneau
1,066
Blu-ray
18 offers from $14.96
Radclyffe Hall
1,511
Paperback
48 offers from $2.22
Sarah Waters
3,184
Paperback
92 offers from $2.25
Jeanette Winterson
3,239
Paperback
143 offers from $2.10
Jeanette Winterson
829
Paperback
177 offers from $1.32

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Cool, clear-eyed, compassionate and unsentimental."
-- "Globe & Mail"

"An intelligent and utterly believable novel."
-- "Joyce Carol Oates"

"An intelligent and utterly believable novel."

About the Author

Jane Rule
Jane Rule was born in New Jersey in 1931 and came to Canada in 1956, where she later taught at the University of B.C. Her first novel, "Desert of the Heart" (1991), was made into a movie in the 1980s. Rule emerged as one of the most respected writers in Canada with her many novels, essays and collections of short stories including "Theme for Diverse Instruments" (1975). Rule passed away in 2007.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bella Books; Reprint edition (July 1, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 216 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 159493035X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594930355
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #454,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,592 in LGBTQ+ Genre Fiction (Books)
- #13,908 in LGBTQ+ Romance (Books)
- #19,860 in Social Sciences (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 252 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

Important information

To report an issue with this product, click here.

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Jane Rule
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Jane Rule was born in New Jersey in 1931 and came to Canada in 1956, where she later taught at the University of B.C. Her first novel, Desert of the Heart (1991), was made into a movie in the 1980s. Rule emerged as one of the most respected writers in Canada with her many novels, essays and collections of short stories including Theme for Diverse Instruments (1975). Rule passed away in 2007.
See more on the author's page
Jane Rule
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
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.
See more on the author's page

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

252 global ratings

5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Dry Land

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2009

Verified Purchase

In today's society, Jane Rule's "Desert of the Heart" may not seem as intriguing or groundbreaking as it did when it was published in 1964. The love story between two women, one seeking a divorce from her husband and both seeking to find who they truly are, is examined along with questions of morality and identity. Published at a time when the psychological association still identified homosexuality as a mental illness, Rule's depiction of two women unwilling to disguise who they are is amazing for its time and still resonant in today's world.

Evelyn Hall travels to Reno for a divorce from her husband. When questioned by her lawyer for a reason, she is at a loss, knowing only that they have never truly been husband and wife because she could never be who she was expected to be. Evelyn stays at a boarding house where she meets Ann Childs, a young woman who looks remarkably like herself and who works in the local casino even though she is smarter and more talented than her work. The two have an immediate smoldering attraction and interest in each other. Ann, much more outspoken, attempts to court Evelyn who is unsure of what accepting these advances will make her confess about herself. Together they embark on a relationship that is filled with learning and pitfalls, trying to decide if there is a place in the world where they could ever be together.

Rule's novel is unsentimental and compassionate at the same time. She does not shy away from sensitive issues and offers some extremely heartfelt observations about life, love, sin, and morality. The desert world of Reno, Nevada serves as a microcosm for the world and its precepts as Rule examines how conventions are not one size fits all. "Desert of the Heart" is an insightful journey through the minds of two very different women as they search for their true identities. It is a story that asks questions that are still in need of asking today.

21 people found this helpful

Helpful

Cris Ascunce

Touching, lovely and painfully honest

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2014

Verified Purchase

In order to get a "quick" divorce, English professor, Evelyn Hall moves to Reno, Nevada for 6 weeks. There, between the gamblers, whores and drunks, she is introduced to a diverse cast of characters that form a tight niche community that is both endearing and delightful. As Evelyn is immersed in this culture, she is engrossed by the day-to-day hum of life in the dessert and the possibility of falling in love with Ann, the casino change purse who lives in the house in which she is boarding. But her world comes to a startling halt when she realizes how harmful this love affair can prove to be to her life and career back home in San Francisco if the truth were to somehow reach her soon-to-be ex-husband. This story is poignant and touching as you ride through the dusty montage of life in the desert of the heart.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Classic lesbian novel that was made into Desert Hearts the film. Enjoyable and unique lesbian story.

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

Jane Rule is a pioneer lesbian fiction author. She wrote some of the earliest works of this kind and helped lead the way to acceptable books about lesbians. Her books were there when almost nothing else was. Love this story of a woman who goes to Reno for a divorce in the 50's and falls in love with another younger women unexpectedly. Sweet but detailed story. It is dated now but still works and has some fascinating info about casino work and casino dealers. If you like this you'd probably like Curious Wine by Katherine Forrest too.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Saiyedros

Stiff, Boring, and Unrealistic

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2015

Verified Purchase

I decided to buy this book after having fell in love with the movie. Make no mistake, I'm usually someone who prefers novels to their film counterparts, but this was a glaring exception to that rule. If I had read the book first, it's unlikely that I would have been motivated to see the movie except out of morbid curiosity.

The way the characters speak is unrealistic. I can buy some poetic talk from an English professor, but half the conversations between her and a casino employee being in metaphors? It became annoying to the point at which I literally threw the book across the room in disgust (but I eventually finished it). I suspected that the author was trying too hard. I'm the sort of reader who prefers concrete prose to symbolic blathering, though, and I'm not much of a fan of drama.

Both of the protagonists had tiresome hang-ups to which I could not relate; one of them was rather promiscuous, and not even in a passionate way, just a kind of jaded "sex, whatever," way. The characters were dull and I didn't like them. The novel itself was dull; not much happened. The limited sex scenes were boring, the courtship was boring.

Overall, the premise of the story held more promise than was delivered. The plot seemed like little more than a vehicle for the author's pretentious writing style.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bronx Book Guy

Good classic

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is the book that the movie was based on. It has a much more academic feel and sort of loses its way after awhile. Still, worth a look, particularly as an insight in the thoughts of a certain era.

[A bit thin, huh? Well, let me add that this is an example where the movie is better than the book. There is a major dramatic moment at least in the book that is not in the movie & the characters are somewhat different in various ways. I admit to not recalling exactly how -- been awhile -- but I do know that I enjoyed the movie as enjoyment much better. This is especially so because after around half-way thru, the book as noted really starts to be a trudge, being more academic sounding, less real really, and tiresome. The movie was a much better story (if with something of a weak ending) from beginning to end.]

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

A Novel for the Ages

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2014

Verified Purchase

Desert of the Heart is the first novel I have read penned by Jane Rule. Her mastery of the English language is evident in every sentence that reads akin to a melody. She developed the characters within her novel with acuity and sensitivity; sensual moments with an intuitive restraint offering the reader his or her own interpretation. The novel is more than a story of lesbian love. It is a study of the human condition and the choices we make to be our own best selves. Desert of the Heart is nothing less than a work of art.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

L. Dalzell

The Novel not the movie!

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is the book that Desert Hearts is based on. I love the book of a divorcing Professor who meets a Change Girl in Las Vegas while waiting out her time to sign divorce papers. Her conflict with herself is real, so is falling in love with a woman. Very Good novel.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Lysec

Histoire d'amour lesbien.

Reviewed in Canada on July 31, 2020

Verified Purchase

J'ai beaucoup aimé ce livre. Le rythme est un peu lent. Ça m'a pris du temps à accrocher. Mais lorsque c'est arrivé, j'avais hâte de lire la fin.

Translate review to English

christy

Four Stars

Reviewed in Canada on January 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

Dumb ending.

M.P.B.

BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN

Reviewed in Canada on March 19, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a wonderful story! The characters are very believable and it is a wonderful snapshot of the that time period. Jane Rule is a skilled writer and fabulous storyteller. I highly recommend this book!

One person found this helpful

Read and Reviewed

A groundbreaking novel published in 1964 but many of the concepts and the idea of marriage is dated by current standards.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2017

Verified Purchase

Desert of the Heart is a groundbreaking novel in the context of lesbian literature. Written in 1961 and eventually published in 1964, albeit after significant changes, this novel marked Jane Rule out as a visionary and a spokesperson for a generation of lesbians, daring to defy the idea that marriage is a ticket to normality. Desert of the Hearts is a wise and witty novel that in essence tells the story of English professor, Dr Evelyn Hall, and her desire to be free of the confines of a marriage and live as an independent woman. Set in the 1950s, the story opens with Mrs Evelyn Hall taking a flight from her home in California to the ‘divorce capital’ of Reno, Nevada. She touches down in the swelteringly desert ahead of finalising her divorce with a six-week residency requirement at the boarding house of Mrs Frances Packer ahead of her. Marriage for Evelyn is an “ill-fitting uniform” and she has a rather matter of fact attitude to her incompatibility with her husband of sixteen-years, George, with her marriage proving more “difficult than her PhD to both achieve and maintain”. In debt, unemployed and having given up the facade of working on his thesis, Evelyn financially keeps George, and they have not seen in public together for over five-years. Much of the early story is an internal monologue from Evelyn and battle with her own inhibitions and the opening lines of the novel set a provocative tone:

“Conventions, like cliches, have a way of surviving their own usefulness. They are then excused or defended as the idioms of living. For everyone, foreign by birth or by nature, convention is a mark of fluency. That is why, for any woman, marriage is the idiom of life.”

It is at the boarding house of matronly Frances Packer and her impish and high-spirited son, Walter, that Evelyn meets the striking Ann Childs, a quick-witted, perceptive and confident woman fifteen-years her junior. It is their uncanny resemblance to each other that breaks the ice, and this can perhaps be interpreted as a subtle reference to their future shared persuasions. In a ten-gallon hat and rodeo trousers, the first fleeting meeting of the pair sees Ann on route to her night- shift employment, working as a ‘change apron’ in thriving casino, Frank’s Club. Intrigued by Ann’s place within this house it takes time for Evelyn to discover her circumstances, with Frances enlightening her on the death of Ann’s lawyer father, leaving her alone in the world and with Frances acting as a watchful guardian. Ann’s bedroom, lined with bookshelves, offers a home from home to Evelyn, and as she waits for Ann to return from her work, she immerses herself in Ann’s private thoughts. It is on one of these nights that Ann first shows her drawings and cartoons to Evelyn, before opening her heart and sharing her private sketchbook, ‘Eve’s Apple’. The connection between the two in instant and the fascination mutual, despite their very different paths in life, however the often philosophical discussions about their circumstances show that Ann is every bit as intelligent as Evelyn.

Rule makes much of the casino workplace of Ann, with the occasionally crude burlesque beauty, Silver, her closet ally. It is Silver who first broaches the idea of lesbianism openly and her tongue-in-cheek advice to Ann to “just relax and enjoy her” when she is assigned a trainee to supervise and her veiled references to Evelyn as a “mother figure of the moment” are the most unequivocal references. Boss at the casino, Bill, is awkward in the company of Ann, a woman whom he loved but who felt unable to make or share a life with him and her rejection has left him smarting. Having engaged with both Bill and Silver on occasions, is it Ann that is more comfortable with her own sexuality to the significantly older Evelyn. However, Desert of the Heart does not speak explicitly of lesbianism. Despite Evelyn’s description of a close friendship with her wartime neighbour, Carol, she appears to have never actively considered the idea of her sexuality, if anything she is more inclined to refer to the concept of “latent homosexuality”. Evelyn’s idea of womanhood is tied to the idea of reproduction and there is some implication that Evelyn subscribes to the theory that every woman longs for her own child. Initially awkward and reluctant to confront their feelings, Rule paints the first overtures as the rather less than wholesome Evelyn’s longing for a child, finding a ready made replacement in Ann, and Ann’s desire for a mother figure. I suspect these aspects were required to dilute the idea that lesbian love could ever be an accepted choice as opposed to a situation that has been enforced by problems specific to an individuals psyche, but these aspects do belittle the power of the story.

Evelyn’s first visit to lawyer, Arthur Williams, is surprisingly short and with only one further meeting necessary before the court date she is shocked by the simplicity of gaining a divorce. Evelyn is truthful and states her and George’s incompatibility but Mr Williams bombards her with questions pertaining to mental cruelty, medical ailments or George having embarrassed her in public but Evelyn acknowledges that, if anything, it is George that has suffered the most in a union that has left him feeling inadequate and undermined. As the end of Evelyn’s six weeks draws closer, both Evelyn and Ann find themselves forced to contemplating everything from fidelity and the vows of marriage. Things come to a head when Ann’s jilted ex, Bill, threatens to intervene and cause disruption to both women’s lives.

Rule poses the question of whether Ann would ever leave her desert home and the importance of Evelyn’s academic career to her sense of self. It is the mostly unspoken and evolving attraction between the two woman that is the focus of Desert of the Heart, but Rule also takes time to ruminate of the isolation of the desert and the strange mix of people that populate and pass through Reno. Reading the novel in 2017 highlights how dated and irrelevant many of the preoccupations are, but it also highlights the necessary discretion between same sex couples that was a requirement of the 1950s era.

2 people found this helpful

John Mccutcheon

A very strong literary novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2021

Verified Purchase

An excellent love story with good characterisation and setting, and full of symbolism and adventurous uses of language. You'd have to put this down as a 'must read' really.

See more reviews

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Sell on Amazon Start a Selling Account

Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	Amazon Fresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Experienced Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Ignite Sell your original Digital Educational Resources	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Listen to Books & Original Audio Performances	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Box Office Mojo Find Movie Box Office Data	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics	DPReview Digital Photography	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting

Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Great Deals on Quality Used Products	Whole Foods Market America’s Healthiest Grocery Store	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Zappos Shoes & Clothing	Ring Smart Home Security Systems

eero WiFi Stream 4K Video in Every Room	Blink Smart Security for Every Home	Neighbors App Real-Time Crime & Safety Alerts	Amazon Subscription Boxes Top subscription boxes – right to your door	PillPack Pharmacy Simplified	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust

Amazon Prime includes:

Buy new: $15.29$15.29 FREE delivery: Monday, Aug 14 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Payment Secure transaction Ships from Amazon.com Sold by Amazon.com Returns Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Buy used: $12.80

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Authors

Desert of the Heart Paperback – July 1, 2005

Purchase options and add-ons

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Videos

Important information

About the authors

Jane Rule

Jane Rule

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$15.29

FREE delivery: Monday, Aug 14 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Payment

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Buy used:

$12.80