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Historical fiction gay

Titles are approximately chronological within time periods.  Note: This list includes Historical Fantasy but not Historical Romance or YA. 

For Historical Romance novels, click here.
For Historical YA, click here.

Female Protagonists

Antiquity

  • Alcestis by Katharine Beutner
  • The Palace of Eros by Caro de Robertis
  • Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane
  • The Aven Cycle by Cass Morris

Medieval/Middle Ages

Pre-Columbian

16th Century

17th Century

18th Century

19th Century

  • The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins (1812-25, Jamaica and London)
  • Patience & Sarah by Isabel Miller (1816-17, NE US)
  • Bittersweetby Nevada Barr (US)
  • Devotion by Hannah Kent (1836, Prussia)
  • The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore (1855, New Hampshire)
  • The Prophetsby Robert Jones, Jr. (pre-Civil War, Serious US South)
  • Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis (1866, Paris)
  • Frog Music by Emma Donoghue (1876, San Francisco)
  • Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens (1877, Midwest US)
  • The Best BadThings and Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco (1887-8, Washington Territory)
  • Clio Rising by Paula Martinac (1893, NYC)
  • The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams (1899, London)

20t

Queer historical fiction where nothing terrible happens
April 19, 2018 7:30 AM   Subscribe

I'm looking for books set before 1950 where the A or B plot follows queer characters who live, work, fall in adore etc. and where I am better able to understand what being queer would look enjoy in this historical context and where NOTHING SUPER TERRIBLE HAPPENS TO THE CHARACTERS.


I just finished White Houses (Love story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok) by Amy Bloom and I really enjoyed it. I also enjoy Sarah Waters. I want to read more books with queer characters set in not-the-present-day where nothing particularly terrible happens to them because of their gender or sexual orientation, but where I am fit to better understand what creature gay/lesbian/queer/loving people of your control gender looked like in this time period.

I don't care what the time period is or the exact create that the not-straight-ness takes as long a) it's not now, b) nothing too terrible happens e.g. no sexual violence directed at the characters, c) the writing is pretty good, d) the historical context matters to the story and life experiences of the characters.

Whaddya got for me!

posted b

10 items

  • A struggling correspondent and a gentleman team up to rescue a lady from scandal. This novella is place in an English village during the Regency era.

  • Lush writing, a finely woven plot, and a medieval romance between a wounded viking and a Christian monk make this story a winner in my eyes.

  • The first in a trilogy about a charming earl and a cross-dressing Shakespearean actor, set in Elizabeth England - one of my favorite historical periods!

  • A slow burn relationship based in Cornwall. Apparently i own a thing for eccentric scientists. I'd been waiting for this one a long time and it was adv worth the wait.

  • Two men in the French Foreign Legion - one an incorrigible misfit and the other a highly respected commandant - plan a daring prison fracture in 1930s Algiers.

  • A rollicking pirate adventure set in the Caribbean during the 19th century. This one appeals to my desire to get lost on a deserted island.

  • This whirlwind romance spans a few decades in the 20th century. Likable characters and Hollywood scandals make this a great start to a series.

  • A nice romance between two men of unlike cultural backgrounds, they eventually pursue the Amer

    It’s Pride month, which means I get to unapologetically talk up queer booksall month (as if I don’t do that 12 months of the year). For me, Pride has always been about honoring the past as much as celebrating the display. So it’s no surprise that Pride has got me thinking about homosexual historical fiction. There’s definitely not enough queer historical fiction in the nature. You might think, given the general lack of queer characters in historical fiction, that queer people sprang into existence sometime in the late 1960s. Obviously, this is not the case. And while we desperately need more historical fiction staring gay people, there are, happily, some wonderful books out there that center gay stories from centuries past. Not all of these books have happy endings, although many of them do. The queer characters in them have complete, complicated, sometimes joyful, sometimes heartbreaking lives. In short: they are human. Yes, there is queer suffering in many of these books, but there is also queer resilience and joy. These books are a testament to the fact that queer people have been here all along. We might not ever know their genuine names and stories, but we do