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Note: These are primarily realistic contemporary and historical novels erring on the side of literary fiction. Titles published before the year 2000 are located here.

• For crime fiction, including thrillers, click here.
• For short story collections, click here.
• For Romance, click here.
• For SFF, click here.

Contemporary

Queer Female Protagonists

• Radiant Fugitives by Nawaaz Ahmed
• Swan Song by Lisa Alther – B
• The Way Back List by Lily Anderson – B
• Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress – B
• Right After the Weather by Carol Anshaw
• Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
• Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett
• With Teeth by Kristen Arnett
• Pennance by Clare Ashton
• The Evolution of Love by Lucy Jane Bledsoe
• Pages for You by Sylvia Brownrigg
• My Education by Susan Choi – B
• It’s Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake by Claire Christian – B
• *Broughtupsy by Christina Cooke
• In at the Deep End by Kate Davies
• Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis
• Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
• Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
• *Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst
• Blue Hunger by Viola Di Grado
• All Inclusive by Farzana Doctor – B
• Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan – B
• Stir-Fry by Emma Donoghue
• Sister Holiday Mysteries by Margot Douaihy
• *Bernie and Leah by Emma Copley Eisenberg
• Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekyuwasi
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
• Temper by Layne Fargo – B
• They Never Learn by Layne Fargo – B
• Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
• Acts of Service by Lillian Fishman (Amz)
• Cottonmouths by Kelly J. Ford
  
• Real Bad Things by Kelly Ford
• Girlcrush by Florence Given – B
• Sizzle Reel by Carlyn Greenwald – B
• The Work Wife by Alison B. Hart
• We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart
• All Of You Every Single One by Beatrice Hitchman
• Old Enough by Haley Jakobson – B
• *Antiquity by Hanna Johannsson
• Vow of Celibacy by Erin Judge – B
• The First Bad Man by Miranda July – B
• Upended by Amanda Kabak (Bks)
• The Mathematics of Change by Amanda Kabak (Amz) – B
• The Split by Laura Kay
• *Exhibits by R.O. Kwon
• Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour
• Under the Rainbow by Celia Laskey
• So Happy For You by Celia Laskey
• The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka (Amz) – B
• The IHOP Papers by Ali Liebegott
• Fiebre Tropical by Juliana Delgado Lopera
• They Call Me Mad Dog!: A Story for Bitter, Lonely People by Erika Lopez
• Lush Lives by J. Vanessa Lyon
• Sugar Run by Mesha Maren
• All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Matthews
• Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist
• The Summer We Got Free by Mia McKenzie
• Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie
• Jericho by Ann McMan
• Kept Animals by Kate Milliken
• Polar Vortex by Shani Mootoo
• In Case of Emergency by Courtney Moreno (Amz)
• Young God by Katherine Faw Morris
• Art is Everything by Yxta Maya Murray (Bks)
• Body Grammar by Jules Ohman
• All Are Welcome by Liz Parker (Amz)
• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters – T
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid – B
• Florida Woman by Deb Rogers
• Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney – B
• Herself When She’s Missing by Sarah Terez Rosenblum
• Rat Bohemia by Sarah Schulman
• After Delores by Sarah Schulman
• Maggie Terry by Sarah Schulman
• She of the Mountains by Vivek Shraya
• Violets by Kyung-Sook Shin
• The Thornchapel series by Sierra Simone – B
• Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S.J. Sindu
• *The Best Day of Our Lives by Madeline Kay Sneed
• Chlorine by Jade Song
• Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
• Valencia by Michelle Tea
• The Treehouse by Randi Triant
• What Night Brings by Carla Trujillo
• Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward
• The Spectacular by Zoe Whittall
• The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson
• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
• The Passion by Jeannette Winterson
• Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell

Queer Male Protagonists

• Call Me By Your Name and Find Me by André Aciman – B
• The Sea Elephants by Shastri Akella
• A Minor Chorus by Billy Ray Belcourt
• A Beautiful Crime by Christopher Bollen
• The Secret Life of Albert Entwhistle by Matt Cain
• There’s Something You Should Know About Ted by Matt Cain
• Edinburgh by Alexander Chee
• Board to Death by CJ Connor
• Doubting Thomas by Matthew Clark Davison
• Burn it All Down by Nicolas DiDomizio
• The Gay Best Friend by Nicolas DiDomizio
• Bellies by Nicola Dinan
• Greenland by David Santos Donaldson
• Mr. Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo
• The Bright Lands by John Fram
• Confidence by Rafael Frumkin
• First Time for Everything by Henry Fry
• Countries of Origin by Javier Fuentes
• *In Tongues by Thomas Grattan
• What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell
• Cleanness by Garth Greenwell
• Less by Andrew Sean Greer
• Going Dutch by James Gregor
• Guapa by Saleem Haddad
• Dancer From the Dance by Andrew Holleran
• Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson
• I’m the Guy You Hate by Isa K.
• Big Gay Wedding by Byron Lane
• Broken People by Sam Lansky
• A Simple Scale by David Llewellyn
• History of Violence by Édouard Louis
• The Boy with a Bird in His Chest by Emme Lund
• Perpetual West by Mesha Maren (Bks)
• Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
• Probation by Tom Mendicino
• Small Joys by Elvin James Mensah (Amz)
• The Magnificent Sons by Justin Myers
• God in Pink by Hasan Namir
• Some Hell by Patrick Nathan
• The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North
• *When the Harvest Comes by Denne Michele Norris
• Devil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler
• After the Parade by Lori Ostlun
• Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage
• Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel
• Black Deutschland by Darryl Pinckney
• Seeing Strangers by Sebastian Plata
• After the Blue Hour by John Rechy
• Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley
• The Guncle by Steven Rowley
• Let’s Get Back to the Party by Zak Salih
• *Hombrecito by Santiago Jose Sanchez
• Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal
• Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai
• The Thornchapel series by Sierra Simone – B
• The City of Devi by Manil Suri
• Infidels by Abdellah Taïa
• Real Life by Brandon Taylor
• *The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor
• *Group Show by Brandon Taylor
• The Knockout Queen by Rupi Thorpe
• The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Valeja
• Bath Haus by P.J. Vernon
• On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
• This Cleaving and This Burning by J.A. Wainwright
• Memorial by Bryan Washington
• The Married Man by Edmund White
• A Previous Life by Edmund White – B
• The Humble Lover by Edmund White
• How to Survive a Summer by Nick White
• The History of Living Forever by Jake Wolff (Amz)
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
• To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

Trans Female Protagonists

• The Wrong End of the Telescope by Rabih Alameddine
• Nevada by Imogen Binnie
• Bellies by Nicola Dinan
• By Way of Sorrow by Robyn Gigl
• Miss Klaus by J.R. Hart
• Tiny Pieces of Skull by Roz Kaveney
• I’ve Got a Time Bomb by Sybil Lamb (Speculative)
• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
• Little Fish by Casey Plett
• Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom
• Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton
• Small Beauty by jia qin wilson-yang

Trans Male Protagonists

• Ponyboy by Duncan Eliot
• The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar
• Future Feeling by Joss Lake (Speculative)
• *Bodies in Water by Shelly Jay Shore
• Bad Boy by Elliot Wake

Non-Binary Protagonists

• Behrouz Gets Lucky by Avery Cassell (Genderqueer)
• All the Things We Don’t Talk About by Amy Feltman (Amz)
• Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly (Genderqueer)
• Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky (Transfemme)
• Vanishing Monuments by John Elizabeth Stintzi (Non-Binary)
• Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead (Two-Spirit)

Intersex Protagonists

• Arcadia by Emmanuelle Bayamack-Tam
• Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
• An Ordinary Wonder by Buki Papillon
• Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin

Other Protagonists

• Open Throat by Henry Hoke

Realistic Historical

For organization by time period, see here.

Female Protagonists

• *Shoot the Moon by Isa Arsen (1960s, DC)
• The Tell Tale by Clare Ashton (1970s, Wales) (Amz)
• The Last Nude by Ellis Avery (1927, Paris)
• Bittersweet by Nevada Barr (19th c. US)
• Naamah by Sarah Blake (Biblical times)
• The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore (1855, New Hampshire)
• A Thin Bright Line by Lucy Jane Bledsoe (1960s, US)
• Alcestis by Katharine Beutner (Ancient Greece)
• White Houses by Amy Bloom (1930s, US)
• The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco (1887, US)
• The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins (early 1800s, Jamaica and London)
• The Savage Kind by John Copenhaver (1940s, Washington DC)
• Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens (1877, Midwest US)
• Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth (1902 + modern, US)
• Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel (1600s, Algonquin Territory)
• Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis (1977, Uruguay)
• Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane (Ancient Greece) – T
• Willa & Hesper by Amy Feltman (19th century, Brooklyn and Eastern Europe)
• Hild by Nicola Griffith (7th c. Britain)
• The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (1617, Norway)
• The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
• Jobs for Girls with Artistic Flair by Jen Hinst-White (1980s, Long Island)
• All of You Every Single One by Beatrice Hitchman (1910-46, Vienna)
• Stray City by Chelsey Johnson (1990s, Portland)
• Devotion by Hannah Kent (1836, Prussia)
• Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht (1960s, NYC and Buenos Aires)
• The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Lebuskes (1933, Berlin)
• The Wife in the Attic by Rose Lerner (Regency England)
• Undiscovered Country by Kelly O’Connor McNees (1930s NYC/DC/WV)(Amz)
• The Cherokee Rose by Tiya Miles (early 19th c. US)
• Patience & Sarah by Isabel Miller (1816-17, NE US)
• Chelsea Girls by Eileen Myles (1960s-70s)
• Outlawed by Anna North (1894, West US) (Amz)
• Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta (1960s, Nigeria)
• The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott (Cold War, USSR)
• Nettleblack by Nat Reeve (1893, Wales)
• Southland by Nina Revoyr (20th century LA)
• Belladonna by Anbara Salam (1950s, CT)
• The Perfume Thief by Timothy Schaffert (WWII, Paris)
• After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz (early 20th c.) (Amz)
• Secret Identity by Alex Segura (1975, NYC)
• Mademoiselle Revolution by Zoe Sivak (Haitian and French Revolutions)
• Sketchtasy by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore (1995, Boston)
• Counting Lost Stars by Kim Van Alkemade (1940s Holland/1960s NYC)
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (Victorian England)
• Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters (Victorian England)
• The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (1922, London)
• The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (1940s/WWII)
• Swearing Off Stars by Danielle Wong (1920s, Oxford)(Amz)
• *The Syndicate by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith (Turn of 20th c., NYC)
• She Rises by Kate Worsley (1740)
• Paper is White by Hilary Zaid (1990s, San Francisco)
• Mislaid by Nell Zink (1960s, Virginia)

Male Protagonists

• Regeneration by Pat Barker (WWI)
• The Disappearance Boy by Neil Bartlett (1953, England)
• Names for the Dawn by C.L. Beaumont (1991, Alaska)(Amz)
• The Whale by Mark Beauregard (1850s, New England)
• The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne (1940s+, Ireland)
• Leading Men by Christopher Castellani (1953, Italy)
• Scottish Boy by Alex de Campi (1333, England)
• The New Life by Tom Crewe (1894, London)
• A Tip for the Hangman by Alison Epstein (1585, England)
• Maurice by E.M. Forster (pre-WWI England)
• Mother’s Boy by Patrick Gale (20th c. England)
• Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut (1912)
• The World and All That it Holds by Aleksander Hemon (1914, Europe/Asia) (Amz)
• The Stranger’s Child by Alan Hollinghurst (1913, England)
• The Falls of the Wyona by David Brendan Hopes (post-WWII Appalachia)
• Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski (1980s, Poland)
• The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
• While England Sleeps by David Leavitt (1930s)
• Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon (1950s, DC)(Amz)
• After Francesco by Brian Malloy (1988, NYC/MN) (Amz)
• History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason (1907, Amsterdam)
• As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann (1600s, England)
• No Other World by Rahul Mehta (1980s-90s US, India)
• Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez (1950s-2000s, UK)
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (ancient Greece)
• *The Lion’s Den by Iris Mwanza (1990s, Zambia)
• *The Future Was Color by Patrick Nathan (1950s, LA)
• At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O’Neill (1916, Ireland)
• *Dayspring by Anthony Oliveira (Jesus)
• Like People in History by Felice Pecano (1950s-90s, US)
• On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl (1956, Western US)
• The Charioteer by Mary Renault (WWII, England)
• Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg (1724, London) – T
• *Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style by Paul Rudnick
• Child in the Valley by Gordy Sauer (1849, US)
• The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels (1986, Ohio/NYC)
• What’s Left of the Night by Ersi Sotiropoulos (1897, Paris)
• The Master by Colm Toibin (1895, England)
• The Book of Salt by Monique Truong (1929, Saigon/Paris)
• In Memoriam by Alice Winn (1914, England) (Amz)
• *The Syndicate by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith (Turn of 20th c., NYC)

Group Cast

• The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara (1980, NYC)