Our Favorite Queer Books!

‘Wild Dark Shore’ by Charlotte McConaghy is set on the fictional Shearwater Island, located somewhere between Tasmania and Antarctica, in 2025, right after the publication of the book. And although it is set in the present, the story focuses on the future—a future that seems insecure due to climate change. The story is told from several perspectives: Rowan, Dominic, Raff, Fen, Orly, and, at one point, Alex.

‘When God was a Rabbit’ by Sarah Winman is divided into two parts: the Before and the After. However, Winman clarifies that it's “not really a Before and After, more as if they are bookends.” Eleanor Maud Portman, called Elly, grows up in Essex. Her parents are charmingly eccentric, and her brother Joe, who is five years older, is her constant companion and protector. Elly feels lonely and friendless, so one Christmas, Joe gives her a rabbit—God.

‘Still Life’ by Sarah Winman certainly does exactly that: leaving a mark. And the author shares a beautiful perspective on a world full of pain. Set mostly in Florence and London, this book covers almost the entire 20th century. The story begins in Tuscany in 1944. Coincidentally brought together at the end of World War II, Evelyn Skinner, an art historian in her sixties, meets Ulysses Temper, a young soldier. This brief encounter stays with them for decades.

‘Demon Copperhead’ by Barbara Kingsolver is set in southern Appalachia from the 1980s to the 2000s. Damon Fields is born in a trailer home, still in his amniotic sac. Or rather, he has born himself to his unconscious teenage mother, out on some drug or another. His father was already dead before he was born. The only adults who care for him are the elderly Peggots next door, who are grandparents to his best friend, Maggot. Maggot is not considered to be man enough by many in

‘The Mercies’ by Kiran Millwood Hargrave is set on Vardø. The climate is rough so far north, but the inhabitants know how to deal with it. The story begins on Christmas Eve 1617, when all adult men that were not too old to go out for fishing were killed by a storm. At this time, all over Europe and North America, innocent people, mostly women, were being burned at the stake for witchcraft.

‘Red at the Bone’ by Jacqueline Woodson begins with Melody’s formal introduction to society in 2001. The story is told through nonlinear narratives from multiple points of view, including flashbacks on the day of her introduction. However, the last few chapters tell the story of what happens afterward.

‘The Mothers’ by Brit Bennett is set in Oceanside, California. The story centers on three characters: Nadia, Aubrey, and Luke. Nadia is seventeen and her mother has died. Suicide. She lives with her father and is struggling with her grief. When she meets Luke, who is a few years older and the pastor’s son, they start dating.

‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ by Casey McQuiston is pure escapism. The novel brings together the First Family of the United States and the British Royal Family in a romantic story full of passion and doubt. Alex Claremont-Diaz is young, impulsive, and passionate about politics. He is driven by a desire to help people. His mother, Ellen Claremont, is the first female president of the United States. His sister, June, would do anything to protect him.

‘Small Pleasures’ by Clare Chambers is mostly set in Kent in 1957and features an unexpected lesbian subplot that enriches this quietly compelling story. Jean, a single woman juggling her role at a newspaper and caring for her emotionally demanding mother, is assigned to cover 'female' topics. Her routine life shifts dramatically when the newspaper receives a letter from Gretchen, who claims that her ten-year-old daughter Margaret was conceived without any sexual contact.

‘Only Mostly Devastated’ by Sophie Gonzales is a novel that follows the complicated love story of Ollie, an out teenager, and his sweet and attractive crush, Will. After spending a magical summer together at the lake, Ollie is hopelessly in love but heartbroken when they have to part ways. Then, he is devastated when Will suddenly stops replying to his texts.

‘Kaikeyi’ by Vaishnavi Patel continues the long tradition of retelling one of the most important Hindu epics, the Ramayana. Many of these retellings revisit female and/or villainized characters—like Kaikeyi—and allow them to tell their stories on their own terms. At the heart of this novel is Kaikeyi, one of Rama’s mothers.

Vivek is dead. And no one seems to know what happened. ‘The Death of Vivek Oji’ by Akwaeke Emezi is set in Nigeria and tells the story of Vivek’s life and death through a chorus of voices—family, friends, lovers. It is a story about gender identity, queerness, friendship, community, and the constraints of silence and shame.

‘Everything I Never Told You’ by Celeste Ng is set in a small Ohio town in the 1970s. After Lydia vanishes, her Chinese-American family struggles to uncover the reasons behind her disappearance and unravel long-held family secrets.

‘All This Could Be Yours’ by Jami Attenberg unfolds over a single day, centered around Victor Tuchman, a deeply flawed man whose heart attack signals the approaching end of his life. As Victor’s family members grapple with their own complicated feelings and memories, they navigate the day in fragmented ways.

‘Blutbuch’ by Kim de l’Horizon is powerful, poetic, and deeply deserving of the German Book Prize. This autofictional novel chronicles Kim’s attempt to retrace the past—particularly that of their female ancestors—while navigating a queer, nonbinary present. In Kim’s family, the women speak often but avoid the unspeakable. The men remain silent. Kim, instead, writes.

‘The Guncle’ by Steven Rowley is a heartwarming story about grief, healing, and the messiness of chosen and biological families. It’s about getting through loss together—and about finding moments of lightness and joy even when things feel impossibly hard.

‘Liebe ist gewaltig’ by Claudia Schumacher is a story about domestic abuse, fighting for sanity, and self-love. Juli grew up in a seemingly perfect family. Her parents are charming and slightly eccentric lawyers. Juli and her siblings are achievers. Everyone is successful. A happy family. Or is it? Behind closed doors, a violent horror unfolds. Physical and emotional abuse dominate the lives of Juli, her siblings, and her mother. As an adult, Juli struggles to form healthy

‘Panza de Burro’ (English: ‘Dogs of Summer,’ translated by Julia Sanches, German: ‘So forsch, so furchtlos,’ translated by Christiane...

I don’t hate this town. I’m uneasy in it. In ‘The Town of Babylon’ by Alejandro Varela, Andrés returns to the town where he grew up—to...

'Belonging' by Umi Sinha is set in India and Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. The book follows the stories of Lila, her father...