r/LesbianBookClub • u/FloorSea1275 • 2d ago

Books like Private Rites?

I loved Private Rights by Julia Armfield (and also read Our Wives Under the Sea). Any recommendations for books with lesbian/sapphic protagonists that have more of a literary fiction vibe? I’m really not a fan of many contemporary romances and find it hard to find literary fiction with lesbian representation.

Thanks in advance!

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u/sadie1525 2d ago

My favourite sapphic lit fic:

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R Austin

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

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u/FloorSea1275 2d ago

Thank you so much 💞! Also loved Fingersmith and The Safekeep but haven’t read the others and am checking them out now.

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u/Inevitable-Yam-702 2d ago

Check out Emily Austin's books! Lit fic that always centers lesbians. 

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u/WanderingMinx 2d ago edited 2d ago

Private Rites shot up to one of my top books of all time when I finished it. I'm also looking for something to fill that void.

If you don't mind sci-fi you might enjoy A Memory Called Empire and it's sequel. It's a story of political intrigue about a young ambassador trying to figure out how her predecessor died while trying to navigate the culture of the empire that has colonized her home. A culture she was taught to love and embrace while she discovers the empire will always see her and treat her as an outsider and lesser citizen.

For contemporary lit fic, if you want someone on an unhinged spiral that's an ode to lesbian pulp fiction, try Perfume and Pain by Anna Dorn. Astrid is a writer who has been canceled because of remarks made during an interview. She's laying low and trying to get healthy and rebuild her brand....but in reality she is diving head first into a toxic situationship with one of the women in her online writing group and chasing it with a mix of drugs and alcohol.

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u/tangerinelibrarian 2d ago

Currently reading Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi, it is fantastic

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u/AnyaTaylorBoy 2d ago

I just finished "What we do we do in the dark" by Michelle Hart and really enjoyed it. Interesting structure and a lot of good lines.

I am currently reading Concerning my Daughter by Kim Hye-Jin. The protagonist is the mother of a queer woman. It is a tough read emotionally but really lovely.

I also started "Alice Sadie Celine" but it feels kind of...cold to me.

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u/FloorSea1275 1d ago

I’ve heard good things about What we do in the Dark, sometimes I find the younger woman with a much older lover a little off-putting but I understand this one isn’t meant to idolize that type of relationship and might give it a try!

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u/AnyaTaylorBoy 1d ago

The relationship does color a lot of the text. The older woman is portrayed as pretty off-putting (which the protagonist struggles to see) and there was no glamorization of it. I often tend to like unconventional, even age gap relationships, but this was not one of those cases.

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u/FloorSea1275 1d ago

Perfume and Pain sounds so good, adding it to my Goodreads list, thank you!

I’m 50/50 on sci-fi but A Memory Called Empire sounds really interesting.

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u/pavlovsdaughterrr 1d ago

Here for this post!!! I have been trying to find similar books.

Time of the Flies by Claudia Piñeiro has a subtle lesbian plot.

Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh

All Fours by Miranda July