Desert of the Heart is a 1964 lesbian-themed novel written by Jane Rule. The story was adapted loosely into the 1985 film Desert Hearts, directed by Donna Deitch. The book was originally published in hardback by Macmillan Canada. It was one of the very few novels that addressed lesbianism that was published in hardback form; most books during this period with female homosexuality as a topic were considered lesbian pulp fiction until 1969.
At the time the novel was published, Rule was a lecturer at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and because the novel dealt with lesbianism, her job was threatened.
Desert of the Heart was first republished in paperback form by Talonbooks in 1977.
Read more about Desert Of The Heart: Background, Plot Summary, Origin of The Title, Reception, Editions
Famous quotes containing the words desert of, desert and/or heart:
“We black men seem the sole oasis of simple faith and reverence in a dusty desert of dollars and smartness.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“Is there any religion but this, to know, that, wherever in the wide desert of being, the holy sentiment we cherish has opened into a flower, it blooms for me? If none sees it, I see it; I am aware, if I alone, of the greatness of the fact. Whilst it blooms, I will keep sabbath or holy time, and suspend my gloom, and my folly and jokes.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“...I delivered the poor who cried, and the orphan who had no helper. The blessing of the wretched came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy, and I championed the cause of the stranger. I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made them drop their prey from their teeth.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 29:12-17.
Job, recounting his faithfulness.