Desert of the Heart

Evelyn Hall travels to Reno intending to endure the waiting period for a divorce with as little emotional disturbance as possible. Her marriage has left her wanting privacy and control, but meeting Ann Child unsettles both. Ann is younger, openly lesbian and far less willing to keep powerful feelings at a safe distance. The connection between them challenges Evelyn's assumptions about desire and the life she might build after her marriage. Set within the temporary world created by Reno's divorce laws, Jane Rule's novel follows two women negotiating different temperaments and expectations. Their relationship raises the possibility that a place visited only to end one chapter could become the setting for an entirely unexpected beginning.