The debut adult novel by the bestselling and award-winning YA author Nina LaCour, Yerba Buena is a love story for our time and a propulsive journey through the lives of two women trying to find somewhere, or someone, to call home. For Educate Yourself Book Club — where we read books on subjects like racism, feminism, LGBTQIAP+ identity, fatphobia, and ableism — we pick fiction and nonfiction books we want to read together, and then we discuss what we have learned, bringing the books and our personal stories to the table. No one in this group is an expert; we stay respectful and open to learning, using the tools at hand, and exchanging stories. It’s a humbling and interesting way to spend more time thinking about social matters, our own privileges, and how we can aim to open the horizons of those who make part of our circles. Although there is a lot of queer literature out there — if you make an effort to find it for yourself — by hosting these meetings, I realised that there are still themes lacking in literary fiction. YA makes it easy to find many kinds of characters and stories, but the club I organise isn’t always open to read YA, which I understand. Although there is already a good selection of books with same-sex relationships (not enough, when you compare it to the selection portraying heterosexual relationships), I still have trouble finding varied literary fiction with asexual or demisexual characters, nonbinary representation, and polyamory, for example. I’m extremely hopeful for Gen Z and the following generations, and I trust that, as they start taking over publishing, things will change for the better and we will have more and more diverse books. Luckily, while not always in the mainstream, there are already a lot of people writing about the experience of being queer as an adult. Here are some of the titles I have found in my search for queer literary fiction. Some are classics, some contemporary and well-known, and some seem to have stayed a bit under the radar.
The Classics
Contemporary
If you’re looking for even more queer literary fiction books, check out these sapphic litfic titles. The main focus of the book ends up being Giovanni, an Italian man the main character meets at a gay bar. The book depicts both homosexuality and bisexuality, allowing the reader a look into the experience of being in same-sex relationships in 1950s Paris. With the use of the words rubyfruit jungle as a metaphor for women’s genitals, it was ahead of its time in 1973, especially in the ways it shows what it was like to be a lesbian in that time period. The book is based on the author’s youth. We get to know Celie from the age of 14 until adulthood, and we see the ways she doesn’t understand her own attraction to women and her disinterest in men. Celie doesn’t have the words for those things she is feeling towards women, so she doesn’t know enough to call herself a lesbian, and finds these feelings simply natural and not to be paid much attention to. It shows well the way faith can make sexual awakening feel like a sin. The novel is divided in eight sections, each named after the first eight books of the Bible, and there is also a TV adaptation. Seeing that the novel is originally written in French, a language which is heavily gendered, it was a feat for the time and a very interesting approach in telling the story. The story has three main characters who are searching for the meaning of love, one of which — like the author — is asexual, agender, and aromantic, although this identity is not a key point of the book. Inspired by Feinberg’s own life, it includes themes like homophobia and transphobia, classism, and antisemitism, while highlighting the power of queer community, love, and activism. The movie adaptation, titled Carol and starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, has certainly helped establish the book’s status as a symbol of lesbian culture. It speaks of a queer awakening, and there’s a longing on the pages many queer people can relate to. At a time when being homosexual was punished by law, these women find a house by the sea where they return together across the years, a place to be who they truly are. The relationships amongst them change, and the political climate of the country does too, but they remain each other’s anchor in a world that is constantly telling them it’s best for everyone if they hide who they truly are. It is a short book, a marriage between two people which seem to have everything to work it out, but as the evening of their honeymoon arrives, it is clear that that is not the case. There is a movie adaptation with Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle. At 40, Skye knows her life is a bit of a mess, but she enjoys the freedom that comes with living it the way she defines it. Then a 12-year-old approaches Skye to let her know she is the “egg” Skye sold at 26. Skye has to deal with this new knowledge, all the while having to juggle the relationships with her brother and mother, and her own romantic relationships. With three main characters, the story shows how each one of them navigates the intricacies of the relationships that develop between them, how they deal with separation, the weight of their actions, and their own expectations. In 1982 you see a love story developing — and unraveling — between Connie and Elise. In 2017, a young woman called Rose finds out Connie had a relationship with Elise, her mother, who she never met. In an attempt to learn more about her own mother, a number of events and misunderstandings leads Rose to get close to Connie, and closer to knowing why Elise left when she was a baby. It’s a compelling sapphic novel about family and the intricate ways of finding oneself. But it is also a story of immigration, of trying to fit in a place that tries to put you into a box, and searching for a place where you belong. The book follows Wallace, a gay Black student working on his PhD in a mostly white campus, and it is based on the author’s own experiences. Wallace tries to keep to himself, but as trouble arises with an experience gone wrong one weekend, he has no choice but to deal with troubles at the university while confronting the ghosts of his past. A student of queer theory, Paul has a secret: he can shapeshift at will, and he is not shy in experimenting with everything he can do with this power. Beautifully written, this book is currently on the contemporary side, but I am certain it will in time become a classic. The story follows Rachel, whose life revolves around counting her calorie intake. Every single thing she eats in a day is thought through and savored down to the last licked spoon — until Rachel meets another woman at a frozen yogurt joint, who unknowingly sets Rachel’s eating rules aside in a very matter-of-fact “you can’t really escape this without making it awkward” way. Rachel is struck by the way this woman takes hold of her place in the world, unapologetic about her body and her love for food, and they develop a complicated relationship. Vivek is born on the same day their grandmother dies. They share a scar. This coincidence is seen by the family as a bad omen, and as Vivek grows up and shows interest in their feminine side, the family has trouble dealing with it. It’s a heart wrenching story about growing up, the weight of expectations, and found family. When she catches her girlfriend out on a lie, Maria has to reconsider her carefully planned life, and things get a little out of control. She ends up going a road trip, which eventually leads her to Nevada. There she finds a travel buddy, and the reader is invited to look into her monologues and her reflections on gender and social conditioning. When Mike travels to Japan to see his dying estranged father, he goes through a complete change as he finds out more about his family’s past. In Texas, Benson and Mike’s mother — who had arrived in the U.S. for a visit before Mike left for Japan — find themselves sharing an apartment and developing a friendship that gives Benson some insight on what he truly wants for his life. Although the book is filled with plot twists and revelations, there is one central mystery in the story, and as we get to hear Evelyn Hugo’s secrets, we try to figure out what these have in common with the woman Hugo chose to reveal them to. One day, she walks into the shop to find her father dead, and she steps into the role of managing the business, which is on the edge of crumbling just as much as the family around her. Jessa tries to figure out her role amongst her family, and her infatuation with her sister-in-law, all the while coming up with creative ways to keep the shop afloat. A Little Life follows the experiences of four men who meet in college and form a close-knit friendship, focusing mostly on Jude, on his traumas and disability. Although this book needs a lot of trigger warnings, romantic (queer) love and friendships are at the center of it. She leaves her life in the city behind, trading it for a house in a small town, as a way to try to cope with the death of her cousin. In her search for her family’s past, Mei will find out that sometimes learning about our family means we often have to live with the consequences of their actions, even when they are no longer with us. Our main character, Ava Delaney, is a young and brilliant artist, until a brutal event shakes her foundation and that of her family. After being pushed away from their community, the family inhabits the confines of their house, alone and ostracised, and Ava has slowly become indifferent and numbed to the world around her. Then one day everything changes when a mysterious woman appears in town. In the psychiatric ward, she recalls her past and her relationships with certain family relatives. As the memories come rushing in, trauma resurfaces, but healing is also underway. Amongst the main characters, there is Tuyen: a daughter of Vietnamese parents, an avant-garde artist, and a lesbian, in love with her best friend Carla. Wondering why I haven’t included your favourite queer book in this list? This is probably why.
