Jane Rule

“A landmark work of lesbian fiction” and the basis for the acclaimed film Desert Hearts (The New York Times).
 Against the backdrop of Reno, Nevada, in the late 1950s, award-winning author Jane Rule chronicles a love affair between two women. When Desert of the Heart opens, Evelyn Hall is on a plane that will take her from her old life in Oakland, California, to Reno,...

Jane Rule's second novel follows a group of friends through New York and abroad as they explore the freedoms-and limitations-of sexuality in a time of stifling social convention Katherine George-Kate to her intimates-is captain of her high school debating and swimming teams. But beneath her high-achieving exterior is a young woman on a quest for meaning and fulfilling relationships.   Through her decades-long correspondence with Esther, the woman...

Fiction and nonfiction form compelling counterpoints in this powerful look at love and lesbianism   The stories and essays in this anthology depict homosexuality in all its variegated forms.     In "Home Movie," Alysoun Carr, a clarinetist with the San Francisco Symphony, learns about overcoming fear from a woman named Constantina. "In the Attic of the House" depicts sixty-five-year-old Alice, who rents rooms to younger gay women who have no inkling...

Jane Rule's incandescent third novel explores love, loss, and family . . . and the pieces of ourselves we leave behind Born lame, Amelia Larson lives in the house that has been in her family for generations. Now she has a decision to make: Should she honor the dying wish of her sister, Beatrice, to burn her diaries? There are sixty-nine in all: one journal for each year of Beatrice's life since the age of six.   Beginning in 1913 and traversing World...

Five women at critical crossroads in their lives come together in this gem of a novel set on an island off the coast of Vancouver   After the Fire introduces a quintet of very different women as they struggle with abandonment, loss, and new beginnings-both together and alone.   There is Karen Tasuki, who recently separated from her partner and wonders if she'll ever get used to being alone . . . until she befriends Red, who cleans houses for the...

Told as a series of interconnected stories, Jane Rule's fifth novel-offering six characters' shifting perspectives-takes us to a place where feminism, creativity, and sexual politics collide  Contract with the World follows a group of friends, artists, and lovers as they negotiate the shifting terrain of the 1970s-a time when gay and lesbian politics were just emerging.     Divided into six parts, the novel enters a world marked by desire, ambition,...

Vivian is a repressed English professor who goes to Reno for a quickie divorce in 1959. She spends the weeks waiting for final divorce papers at a dumpy dude ranch. There she mets Cay, a beautiful young casino worker. The two develop a friendship that stirs desires in Vivian she cannot deny. Slowly their attraction deepens into bold sensuality as they develop a bond that renews their hearts--and breaks all the rules.