Everyone wants to see their own experiences reflected in the stories they love, so when you grow up LGBTQ+ in a heteronormative culture, the moment you see your identity reflected whilst engrossed in a novel or flicking through an anthology is a breath of fresh air.
The good news? The selection available is wide ranging and ever growing. From coming of age novels to timeless classics, heartfelt romances to biographical works, there are queer stories to suit every taste on the sexuality and gender spectrum.
If you’re not a member of the community yourself, you can still enjoy a book with a narrative that’s entirely dissimilar to your own experiences. Even better, it could help you understand the perspective of those who fly the rainbow flag. And at the end of the day, a good book is a good book, regardless of the character’s sexual preferences.
Whether you’re on the lookout for a new read yourself, are buying a thoughtful gift for your best friend, or want a considered stocking filler or secret Santa, keep scrolling to discover our carefully selected edit.
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
You may have seen the beautiful cult-favourite movie starring Timothee Chalamet directed by Luca Guadagnino, and the good news is that the book is just as touching. A coming-of-age love story between main character Elio and his father’s graduate student assistant, Oliver, it’s a nostalgic and bittersweet tale set against the hazy summer backdrop of the Italian countryside.
Buy now £5.89, Amazon
Under The Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
A coming of age tale set in 1960s Nigeria when the civil war breaks out, Under the Udala Trees follows the story of Ijeoma who is sent away to safety and falls in love with another displaced child. Not only are they from different ethnic communities, but they’re both girls. When their love is discovered, Ijeoma has to hide her true self.
Released in 2015, just one year after Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Johnson, signed a bill known as the ‘jail the gays’ act and at a time when gay marriage in much of the western hemisphere has been legalised, the novel captures this disparity and ends with a glimmer of hope.
Buy now £7.45, Amazon
Lie With Me by Philippe Besson
A bestselling French novel translated to English by Molly Ringwald, it starts with Philippe, a famous writer, chancing upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love, Thomas Andrieu. What follows is a retrospective story that follows the lives of two teenage boys set in rural France during the Eighties, a beautifully written semi-autobiographical novel of complex love that pulls on the author’s adolescence, and is dedicated to a real-world Thomas Andrieu.
Buy now £7.15, Amazon
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Detransition, Baby made history as the first book written by a trans woman to appear on the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. A novel set in Brooklyn about the lives of Reese, a trans woman in her mid-thirties who longs to be a mother, Ames, Reese’s ex-girlfriend who is detransitioning after six years living as a trans woman, and Katrina, the soon-to-be-mother of Ames’ child. A raw, educational, and funny novel that explores the complicated journeys taken by trans women.
Buy now £8.27, Amazon
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
When it was first published as a novel in 1891, The Picture Of Dorian Gray was described as ‘poisonous’, ‘unclean’, and filled with ‘matters only fitted for the Criminal Investigation Department’, which is perhaps unsurprising as the first work of mainstream literature that comes close to describing homosexual desire.
The story revolves around a portrait of Dorian Gray painted by Basil Hallward, an artist infatuated with his subject’s beauty, and Dorian’s wish to sell his soul to ensure that the picture, rather than he, will age and fade as he lives the hedonistic life he desires. Wilde’s only novel, it’s a classic that’s definitely worth a read.
Buy now, Amazon
The Arab Is Queer: An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers
A collection of memoirs that takes you from a military base in the Gulf to a drag queen’s overseas tour, whispers caught between the bedsheets to a concert in Cairo where the rainbow flag is raised to a crowd of thousands, it showcases the richness and diversity of Arab identity.
With stories from 18 queer Arab writers, some of whom are bestselling with others using pseydonyms, it’s a heartwarming, moving and uplifting anthology that celebrates the true colours of the vibrant Arab queer experience.
Buy now £11.95, WHSmith
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, The Color Purple is a modern classic. Published in 1982 and set in the early twentieth century deep south America, it depicts the struggles of African American women at a time of segregation. Starting with stories of rape and domestic abuse, the main character Celie then falls in love with the glamorous Shug Avery who helps to free her from her troubled past.
Written as a series of letters, at first from Celie to God, and then with her estranged sister who she was separated from as a child, it’s a moving story resilience, companionship, and love.
Buy now £8.99, Waterstones
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Heralded as ‘the great gay novel’, A Little Life by Garth Greenwell follows the lives of four boys, Willem, Jude, Malcolm and JB, who meet at college before moving to New York upon graduation. Over the years, their relationships become more complex as they face the trials and tribulations of failure and success - with their greatest challenge being Jude himself.
Queer suffering is at the heart of the story, with each of the main characters representing complex relationships to sexual identity. An intensley powerful and extraordinary story that avoids the traditional narratives of gay fiction, and will stay with you long after you finish the last page.
Buy now £9.29, Amazon
