Jane Rule Book order

Set against the backdrop of a changing societal landscape, this groundbreaking novel explores themes of love and identity through its diverse characters. Jane Rule's work is celebrated for its pioneering representation of LGBTQ+ relationships, making a significant impact in the realm of diversity publishing. The narrative delves into the complexities of human connection and the quest for acceptance, solidifying Rule's status as a trailblazer in literature.

Two women meet and fall in love in Reno, Nevada. Evelyn Hall has gone there to get a divorce from her husband; Ann Childs works there as a change girl in a gambling casino. The movie Desert Heartsis based on this first novel by Jane Rule.

In this fluid, often witty novel set on a small rural island off the coast of Vancouver, five solitary women at different stages in life learn how to function alone as well as together. Canadian-Japanese Karen, who has left her lesbian lover of eight years, befriends Red, a young woman with an unknown background who cleans houses for three others--acrid Milly, divorced by her husband after a 20-year marriage; Henrietta, whose husband is institutionalized in Vancouver; and Miss James, an eccentric, elderly spinster. Birth, illness and death follow one another, uniting the five independent and incisively drawn protagonists. "All that time I was trying to teach you how to live alone and really take care of yourself, I was teaching myself, too," Henrietta tells Red. The resulting warmth is not saccharine but realistic, as Rule illuminates the vagaries and pain of abandonment and loss, and the fragile joy of new bonds.