I do believe something really magical can happen, when you read a good book – JK Rowling
We both like reading, especially Aga reads a lot; she is mainly into crimes and historical novels, but of course we also have some favourite lesbian novels!
And since we guess, you all have plenty of time those days and might need some romantic distraction from all the Netflix we want to share with you our favourite lesbian novels.
We start with Agas favourite:
Carol by Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith’s story of romantic obsession may be one of the most important, but still largely unrecognized, novels of the twentieth century. First published in 1952 and touted as “the novel of a love that society forbids,” the book soon became a cult classic. – Goodreads
We both enjoyed reading this book, because it’s easy going 1950’s couture, lesbian chic, unfiltered cigarettes and bottomless highballs, two passionate ladies on a road trip. And who of us doesn’t enjoy a road trip?
“Prior to this book, homosexuals male and female in American novels had had to pay for their deviation by cutting their wrists, drowning themselves in a swimming pool, or by switching to heterosexuality (so it was stated), or by collapsing – alone and miserable and shunned – int a depression equal to hell.”
Thank you Patricia Highsmith, for fixing this in the repressive year of 1953!
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a “baby farmer,” who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksbys household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thievesfingersmithsfor whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home. – Goodreads
Fingersmith is a Victorian murder mystrey with a lesbian romance, taking place in a dark and steamy London. It’s historical fiction paired with a gothic atmosphere. This story has so many twists and turns that it’s sometimes tricky to read on almost 600 pages, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a slog reading it!
Blue is the warmest color by Julie Maroh
Blue is the Warmest Color is a graphic novel about growing up, falling in love, and coming out. Clementine is a junior in high school who seems average enough: she has friends, family, and the romantic attention of the boys in her school. When her openly gay best friend takes her out on the town, she wanders into a lesbian bar where she encounters Emma: a punkish, confident girl with blue hair. Their attraction is instant and electric, and Clementine find herself in a relationship that will test her friends, parents, and her own ideas about herself and her identity.
Now we come to Lenas favourite.
If you like graphic novels, so basically comics you definitely need to look into this classic part of the lesbian literature.
Forget about the terrible movie and get the original illustration of the story.
The visual style is very impressive, much more artful and interesting in many ways than the film. The blue of Emma’s hair becomes devolves into an icon of Clémentine’s life that other colours seem pale and washed-out, the focus targets blue objects, in a symbolic function for the new and overwhelming feelings she experienced.
Desert of the heart by Jane Rule
Two women meet and fall in love in Reno, Nevada. This classic of lesbian eroticism is Jane Rule’s first novel.
Set in the late 1950s, this is the story of Evelyn Hall, an English professor, who goes to Reno to obtain a divorce and put an end to her disastrous 16-year marriage. While staying at a boarding house to establish her six-week residency requirement she meets Ann Childs, a casino worker and fifteen years her junior. Physically, they are remarkably alike and eventually have an affair and begin the struggle to figure out just how a relationship between two women can last. Desert of the Heart examines the conflict between convention and freedom and the ways in which the characters try to resolve the conflict.
I (Lena) enjoyed this book a lot. While reading it’s easy to forget that this book actually has been published in 1964.
It invites us to question conventions and their value to us.
It is easy to read, entertaining and gave me somehow the vibe of a travel romance.
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
Bawdy and moving, the ultimate word-of-mouth bestseller, Rubyfruit Jungle is about growing up a lesbian in America–and living happily ever after.
Don’t judge a book by it’s 70’s cover, seeming to be some sort of erotic lesbo fiction. It’s an intelligent written coming out story of a lovely main character growing up in Florida, struggling with her sexuality.
It’s not only easy to read, but also funny and entertaining- and spoiler alert!
Who doesn’t like a happy end?
Did you read any of these books?
Or you wan to share your favourite lesbian novel with us?
