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 and/or heart:
“There is a silence where hath been no sound,
There is a silence where no sound may be,
In the cold grave—under the deep, deep sea,
Or in wide desert where no life is found,”
—Thomas Hood (1799–1845)
“Women have their heads in their hearts. Man seems to have been destined for a superior being; as things are, I think women generally better creatures than men. They have weaker appetites and weaker intellects but much stronger affections. A man with a bad heart has been sometimes saved by a strong head; but a corrupt woman is lost forever.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)