Must-Read Sapphic Historical Fiction

Five wildly different women find each other in the midst of a Uruguayan military dictatorship that crushes dissent in the 1970s where homosexuality is a crime to be punished. But Romina, Flaca, Anita, Paz, and Malena find each other nonetheless, the five cantoras discovering a reprieve from the harsh realities of life on a nearby uninhibited cape. At Cabo Polonio, the women can be themselves. And over the next 35 years they will return, together and alone, in pairs and with lovers in tow, to this one place where they can finally stop pretending.

This cult classic follows a group of queer misfits who find love and friendship in post–martial law 1980s Taipei. An anonymous lesbian narrator tells their story as they come together while hardly studying at Taiwan’s most prestigious university. Told through a series of diaries, vignettes, and notes, Notes of a Crocodile is an optimistic masterpiece full of the romance and idealism of a changing society.

In 1940s New York City, a spy falls for the wrong woman — the very woman she’s supposed to be spying on, in fact. When reporter Jenny Ryan gets a tip that pins her father’s death on a mobster, she’s determined to bring him and his empire down. She didn’t expect the mobster’s mistress to be her downfall, though. Kathryn didn’t expect Jenny, either. And she definitely didn’t expect the OSS to make this reporter with a grudge her latest dead-end mission. Love is the last thing either of them need, especially with each other, but their feelings are growing harder to deny. And even their secrets may not be enough to keep them apart.

Queer people weather love, passion, and heartbreak in this atmospheric historical novel set in the first half of the 20th century. Julia and Eve know their best chance for love and happiness lies in the more liberal Vienna, where they find community in the Jewish quarter. But Julia’s desperate longing for a child threatens the life they have built together. Rolf and Emil hide their affair despite Rolf’s determination to never fall in love. And Ada finds comfort with her cousin’s wife even as she’s sent to Dr. Freud to try to cure her mutism. It’s a portrait of life against the backdrop of oppression and community in a rapidly changing city.

In 1927 Paris, a young American in desperate straits crosses paths with the Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka. Hoping to stay off the streets, Rafaela agrees to model for Tamara, soon becoming her muse. But Tamara and Rafaela are much more than artist and model — they’re lovers whose passion inspires some of Tamara’s most iconic Jazz Age imagery. But even as they relish their time together, the encroaching tide of war of in Europe threatens their future.

Alma got her skills and training as a Pinkerton before she was let go for bad behavior and going undercover as a man. Now, she works for Delphine Beaumond in a west coast smuggling ring. When a shipment of opium goes missing, Alma is sent to infiltrate their Washington Territory outpost as a dockworker. She’s looking to find the opium and root out the turncoat in their midst. But one wrong move could expose her as a traitor, a spy, or — worst of all — a woman.

Growing up on the Southside of Chicago during the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, Stevie longs to fit in. But after the assassination of Dr. King, she decides not to straighten her hair or bleach her skin. She’s determined to confront the prejudice she receives not only from white people but Black people as well. But her growing confusion over why she’s more attracted to the school nurse than her teenage boyfriend makes trying to stand up while fitting in seem even more complicated.

In this lush meditation on creativity and queer identity, women throughout time break from the seemingly predetermined path of their lives to forge something new in the vein of the famous Greek poet. Vignettes of the lives of Virginia Woolf, Natalie Clifford Barney, Romaine Brooks, and others take inspiration from Sappho and pursue their true selves and their true passions in these pages.

When it comes to sapphic historical fiction, you just can’t make a complete list without mentioning Sarah Waters. And in Tipping the Velvet, a male impersonator transfixes a young oyster girl in the music halls of Leicester Square in Victorian London, before bringing her on as part of a singing and dancing double act. On stage, they dazzle audiences. But behind closed doors, Nan and Kitty can openly admit their feelings for each other. And so a love affair begins.

Former Book Riot contributor and author Adiba Jaigirdar pens her first historical novel with this heist story set on the Titanic’s ill-fated maiden voyage. As a thief, an artist, an acrobat, and an actress, Josefa, Emilie, Hinnah, and Violet have very little in common. It’s a singular goal that has brought them together aboard the Titanic: stealing the jewel-encrusted Rubaiyat. This book might just be the ticket to solving all their problems, but old grudges, new romance, and one disastrous night on the Atlantic could ruin everything they’ve been working for.

A lady’s maid and her high society employer from New York high society are each living a double life — but they don’t know the truth about each other yet. Mary is actually Irish exile Maire O’Farren, and she spends her night in the arms of a prostitute and drinking alongside members of a dangerous secret society. But upright Charlotte Walden has her secrets, too: she’s having an affair with a stable groom who’s actually Mary’s brother. And when their lies begin to unravel, Mary is left to face the consequences and decide between her brother and her employer, her carefully curated façade, and living the life that she truly desires.

Two very different women in 1856 Philadelphia come together when the daughter of Abby Read’s free Black servant is kidnapped by rogue slave catchers, bringing her into the circle of Genie Oliver, who uses her dress shop down the street as a front for her work with the Underground Railroad. First their work together is done only out of necessity, but before long Abby and Genie find that they enjoy each other’s presence even when the work is done.

I’ve mostly avoided books with any supernatural of fantastical elements on this list, but for this last book I’m going to have to make an exception. After dying in childbirth in the15th century, Blanca has always haunted the hilltop monastery in Mallorca where she breathed her last. When the free-spirited writer George Sand arrives at the monastery with her children and lover, Frederic Chopin, in tow, Blanca is mystified. Who is this strange woman wearing men’s clothes? Blanca can’t seem to look away from her. And as their modern sensibilities shock the people of Mallorca, Blanca increasingly wonders if there is anything she can do to save George from both the locals and her own reckless instincts.