Contemporary Gay & Lesbian Fiction

Anthologies

Chloe Plus Olivia, edited by Lillian Faderman (1994)

Combining the works of four centuries of lesbian and bisexual writers, by Willa Cather, Gertrude Stein, Carson McCullers, and others, this collection reviews the shifting concept of "lesbian literature" by exploring six different genres.

Flesh to Flesh, edited by Lee Hayes (2008).

An anthology of erotic tales provides insight into the secret lives of African-American gay men and how they navigate a world in which sensuality plays a significant role in everyday media and consciousness.

Novels

At Swim, Two Boys, by Jamie O'Neill (2003)

In a story set against the backdrop of Dublin in 1915, two boys who meet at the local swimming hole plan to swim to an island in Dublin Bay the following Easter, but their plans coincide with the Easter uprising--a historic rebellion that changes their lives.

The Beauty of Men, by Andrew Holleran (1996)

Lark's mourning over the loss of his youth and of friends and acquaintances, his visits to his dying mother, and his actual and remembered visits to boat docks and baths comprise a narrative of loneliness, aging, and obsessive desire.

The Book of Salt, by Monique Truong (2003)

Considering whether he will accompany his employers, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, to America, a personal cook remembers his youth in French-colonized Vietnam, his years as a galley hand at sea, and his days cooking for the doyennes of the Lost Generation.

Breakfast with Scot, by Michael Downing (1999)

When Scot's mother dies, Sam and Ed, although childless and enjoying it, decide to take him in, only to get more than they bargained for when Scot reveals his love of feather boas and expresses his dissatisfaction with the house's drapes.

Crossroads, by Skyy (2012)

Take a wild ride with three grown college friends who still have the heart of their youth. Denise is ready to leave behind past pains. Lena has made up her mind--she wants Denise. Cooley, though far from Memphis and all its heartache, wonders: Have her past transgressions robbed her of her swagger?

The Danish Girl, by David Ebershoff (2000)

Set in decadent 1920s Copenhagen, this tender tale of love and marriage in the midst of fundamental crisis introduces a man who discovers he's a woman and the woman who will do anything for him.

Father of Frankenstein, by Christopher Bram (1995)

A unique mixture of fact and fiction recreates 1950s Hollywood in a tale of homoeroticism, mental disintegration, social commentary, and compassionate human insight surrounding the mysterious death of James Whale, director of Frankenstein.

Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters (2002)

Growing up as a foster child among a family of thieves, orphan Sue Trinder hopes to pay back that kindness by playing a key role in a swindle scheme devised by their leader, Gentleman, who is planning to con a fortune out of the naive Maud Lily, but Sue's growing pity for their helpless victim could destroy the plot. By the author of Tipping the Velvet.

Hood, by Emma Donoghue (1995)

Attending the funeral of her lesbian lover, Pen O'Grady recalls their turbulent fourteen-year relationship, which encompassed shared terms in convent school, Cara's personality oddities, and bittersweet infidelities.

The Hours, by Michael Cunningham (1998)

In a novel of love, family inheritance, and desperation, the author offers a fictional account of Virginia Woolf's last days and her friendship with a poet living in his mother's shadow.

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)

Calliope's friendship with a classmate and her sense of identity are compromised by the adolescent discovery that she is a hermaphrodite, a situation with roots in her grandparents' desperate struggle for survival in the 1920s.

The Night Listener, by Armistad Maupin (2000)

Suspense builds to a feverish intensity as popular late-night radio host Gabriel Noone befriends a troubled listener, a thirteen-year-old boy who has endured a childhood of traumatic sexual abuse and who sees Gabriel as a surrogate father.

Pages for You, by Sylvia Brownrigg (2001)

Seventeen-year-old Flannery Jansen develops a lusty obsession for a female graduate student teacher and by chance ends up in one of her classes, but as the two become closer and share more than Baudelaire, Flannery learns more about Anne than she ever wanted to.

The Promise of Rest, by Reynolds Price (1995)

Returning to his North Carolina family home to die from AIDS, Wade Mayfield induces feelings and patience in his attending, divorced parents that initiate a possible reunion and the perpetuation of a proud family tradition.

Southland, by Nina Revoyr (2003)

Jackie Ishida, a young Japanese American woman living in Los Angeles, learns of the deaths of four young men in her grandfather's store during the 1965 Watts riot, and sets out to discover the truth about their deaths, along the way uncovering some long-buried family secrets as well.

Written on the Body, by Jeanette Winterson (1992)

A combined love story and philosophical meditation on the body as a physical phenomenon thrusts the reader into the life of a married woman and her erotic relationship with an unidentified lover who narrates the story.

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