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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
- 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)
- 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
- 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
- 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)