Hey everyone.
I’m currently on the search for all sorts of sapphic fiction novels. From YA to fantasy to romance. I’ve started Priory of the Orange Tree, I’ve read the Bright Falls series. I am open to anything fiction.
Sapphic main characters or side characters is what I’m aiming for. Healing my inner younger self who never read as a young sapphic herself.
Any suggestions at all, I’ll take.
by Pnwbliss
11 Comments
Well, since you said ANYTHING. My taste might be a bit old-persony though:
“Stone Butch Blues” by Leslie Feinberg- classic, touching story of butch/femme dynamics, labor organization, and the desire for human connections in the face of rejection.
“Rubyfruit Jungle” by Rita Mae Brown- another classic, about a working-class woman finding herself as a filmmaker.
“The Price of Salt/Carol” by Patricia Highsmith/ 1950’s lesbian romance
“Beyond the Pale” by Elana Dykewomon- lovingly crafted historical fiction about NYC lesbian Jewish immigration and labor organization. Her book “Riverfinger Women” by slice-of-life stories about queer life and drug dealing
“Martha Moody” by Susan Stinson- sweet, dreamy body-positive Western.
“Inferno: (A Poet’s Novel)” by Eileen Myles- poetic novel about bohemian NYC artists and sex work.
“Ice and Fire: A Novel” by Andrea Dworkin- depressing novel about bohemian NYC artists and sex work.
“Tipping the Velvet” by Sarah Waters- beloved classic about crossdressing Victorian lesbians. Anything she writes is gonna be at least implicitly gay. “Fingersmith” is another of her beloved works, it’s the batshit story of a lady and her thieving maid.
“Unconquerable Sun” by Kate Elliott- Alexander the Great is a lesbian in spaaaaace
“Manhunt” by Gretchen Felker-Martin- a ragtag bunch of queers hunts zombified men to make DIY HRT while battling TERF armies. Contains explicit spoilers for James Tiptree Jr.’s short story “The Screwfly Solution”.
“With Delicate Mad Hands” – short story of alien love and ugliness from James Tiptree Jr.
“Queen of Teeth” by Hailey Piper- horror novella about waking up with teeth in your junk
“Into the Drowning Deep” by Mira Grant- horror novel about hunting and being hunted by mermaids
“The Deep” by Rivers Solomon- dark, tragic autistic lesbian mermaid story. Solomon tends to write sapphic and neurodiverse characters. I didn’t love the pacing of “Sorrowland”, a speculative fiction about a teen escaping from a cult.
“The Stars Are Legion” by Kameron Hurley- lesbians live on Death Stars made of flesh, politics happen.
“Frog Music” by Emma Donoghue- bisexual 1800’s prostitute investigates the death of a crossdressing frog-catcher. Donoghue also has “Kissing the Witch” a collection of queer short stories
“Alcestis” by Katharine Beautner- eerie, queer retelling of Alcestis’s experiences with death, good for “Song of Achilles” fans
“I’ll Be The One” by Lyla Lee- YA fluff, about bisexual plus-sized Korean-American teen in a Kpop competition, good for bi girls who don’t feel like it’s their time to come out.
I’ve also got a list of lesbian separatist sci-fi, but that’s a genre that tends to be more campy-good than good-good, so I won’t clog this thread up more.
I really enjoyed “This Is How You Lose the Time War”.
It’s has time travel and multi-universe if you’re interested in that. It’s kinda a slow-burn and made me feel dumb for the first 25-30% of it but after I caught along it was an awesome read. Haven’t cried with a book for a long time.
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
Hide by Kiersten White
Locked Tomb series(first book: Gideon the Ninth) by Tamsyn Muir
I’m reading Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan right now. It’s great so far.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine! Great political intrigue sci fi with sapphic main characters
Also the Locked Tomb Series by Tasmyn Muir – its tagline is “lesbian necromancers in space” and it’s such a good and trippy series
Check out “I See You” by Zariya Grant. If you want to read with a female love interest I’d pick version B. I read that one because I like to imagine myself as the main character lol. (Version A is the same exact book but the LI is a guy). And there’s another sapphic relationship in the book that’s so cute but I won’t spoil it (hint: enemies to lovers)
Edit: forgot to add it’s about witches and stuff. So there’s crystals, tarot, sigils etc.
We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
Landing; Hood by Emma Donoghue
Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Steven’s. A sapphic ghost haunts a monastery.
Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour (plus most of her other books)
Far From You by Tess Sharpe (plus most of her other books)
For Her Consideration by Amy Spalding
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri (and the book after it)
also Priory has a prequel out now which is even more sapphic, A Day of Fallen Night
Kelly Farmer- F/F hockey romance
Effie Calvin- Sapphic fantasy with dragons (there are at least five of them)
Celia Lake- Complementary – fantasy set in pre-war Britain
Jae writes a ton of sapphic slow-burn romance
Season of Love Helena Greer for a delightful holiday romance
Being Merry Meka James for excellent execution of grumpy/ sunshine trope with Christmas in the mix
* A&B by J.C. Lillis – contemporary YA romance
* The Adult by Bronwyn Fischer – adult contemporary
* The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie – YA sci-fi
* Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead – adult contemporary
* Greta and Valdin by Rebecca Reilly – adult contemporary
* The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante – YA sci-fi
* Hex by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight – adult contemporary
* Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas – adult contemporary-ish / recent historical
* In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado – adult memoir
* The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake – YA contemporary
* A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee – YA dark academia
* Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens – adult literary Western / historical
* On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden – YA sci-fi graphic novel
* The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow – YA sci-fi
* You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat – adult contemporary