Help! Desktop has been wiped accidentally. Where to from now? Can I restore Trash?

Helpful husband has accidentally wiped everything from my desktop while copying things from an external drive.
The whole desktop is completely EMPTY. Not a single thing there. Trash is empty. No folders appear when I search for them.
I'm waiting on Apple Support for a phone call, but desperately wanting to know what I can do in the meantime.
Is there any way I can reverse the Trash can???
Our iMac is only 2 weeks old, we're new Apple users and just in the process of formatting our external drives to back up everything.
Still learning about other ways to back up our work every day...
Help is very much appreciated. Thankyou.

Lesson one - keep the desktop clear, or at least put your files elsewhere (Documents folder for instance) and use an alias (shortcut) on the desktop.
If the trash has been emptied, you'll need recovery software and an external HD.
Stop using the Mac if possible until you can do this, as the more you use it the greater the possibility of over-writing the files.
Data Rescue 3;
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
Stellar Phœnix;
http://www.macintosh-data-recovery.com/
Both programmes will give you a free download to scan your HD and see if the files are recoverable, but you'll have to pay for the full application to actually recover them.
There are others with varying levels of usefulness, so someone else may be able to recommend more.

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