Desert Of The Heart

Jane Rule, Jackie Kay

From Shelf: Virago Modern Classics Bookclub 2021-2023

Regarded as a classic of lesbian literature and was groundbreaking when published in 1964.

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