Tag Archives: The Book of Salt

Fave Five: Queer Histfic Set in Paris

What’s Left of the Night by Ersi Sotiropoulos, translated into English from Greek by Karen Emmerich (1897)

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher (1919)

The Last Nude by Ellis Avery (1927)

The Book of Salt by Monique Truong (1929)

The Perfume Thief by Timothy Schaffert (1941)

Bonus: For a more recent historical set in France but not Paris, check out Lie With Me by Philippe Besson, translated into English from French by Molly Ringwald (1984)

 

Fave Five: Gay/Bi Historical Fiction Set in Early 20th Century Europe

At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O’Neill (1916 Ireland)

The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood (1931 Berlin)

The Book of Salt by Monique Truong (1929 Paris)

History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason (1907 Amsterdam)

While England Sleeps by David Leavitt (1930s London and Spain)*

*There are strong accusations that Leavitt plagiarized Stephen Spender’s life for this novel. You may also want to check out Spender’s autobiography, World Within World, which contains an afterword addressing the allegations.

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