To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Channel Islands Pride in Guernsey, we have put together a collection of LGBTQ+ Reads which we hope will capture your attention. From romantic historical fiction to moving portrayals of identity, this list has something for everyone!
If you see one you’d like, just click the title to reserve it.
The Safekeep, Yael Van Der Wouden
The Safekeep is an exhilarating but twisted tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession. It explores the relationship between two young women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961. It’s a powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII, told using a range of characters with intriguing depth and emotion.
Disappoint Me, Nicola Dinan
Max is 30, a published poet and a grossly overpaid legal counsel for a tech company. She's living her best life… or is she? The debris of years of dysphoria and failed relationships rattle around in her head. When she tumbles down the stairs at a New Year's Eve party and wakes up in hospital alone, she decides to make some changes.
An electrifying story of love, betrayal, and the complicated allure of fancy domesticity, Disappoint Me is a read that is worth all the hype.
The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hall
When The Well of Loneliness was first published in 1928, it caused immediate outcry from the public. The novel was deemed inappropriate and obscene, which led to a ban and the destruction of many copies. The semi-autobiographical story follows the life of Stephen Gordon, daughter of English aristocrats. It explores Stephen’s relationships with other women and sheds light onto what it was like to be a lesbian in the early twentieth century and is often referred to as ‘the most famous lesbian novel’ ever.
Clear, Cerys Davies
Atmospheric and moody, Clear uses evocative imagery to tell the tale of minister John Feguson, Mary and Ivar. The three are connected by a fictional remote Scottish isle where Ivar is the sole occupant. The novella is set in 1843 and is loosely based on the happenings of the Clearances. John Ferguson is sent to evict Ivar from his home, but this doesn’t go quite as planned and the pair get quite caught up, whilst Mary makes her way towards them.
Tales from the Fatherland, Ben Fergusson
A remarkable piece of writing and the first non-fiction book by university tutor, Ben Fergusson. In the form of a personal essay, Fergusson tells the story of how he and his husband came to adopt their son. The challenges of adoption for same-sex couples are revealed in an emotive way that is humorous at times, making the nature of this read a perfect blend between serious and light-hearted.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a sweet coming of age novel that explores lesbian identity in 1950’s America. Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu lives in Chinatown, which is not a safe place for her to fall in love with Kathleen Miller. Both Hu and Miller's worries melt away, though, as soon as they cross the threshold of the Telegraph Club – a lesbian bar where they can comfortably be themselves, if only for an evening.
Meanwhile there is also the threat of the Red Scare looming over Lily and her family, with her father at risk of deportation. Still, Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.
Rubyfruit Jungle, Rita Mae Brown
In bawdy, moving prose, Rita Mae Brown tells the story of Molly Bolt, the adoptive daughter of a dirt-poor Southern couple who boldly forges her own path. With her startling beauty and crackling wit, Molly finds that women are drawn to her wherever she goes – and she refuses to apologize for loving them back.
This literary milestone continues to resonate with its message about being true to yourself and, against the odds, living happily ever after.
Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin
Set in the Paris of American expats, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. James Baldwin's brilliant narrative delves into the mystery of loving with a sharp, probing imagination. He creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals unspoken complexities of the heart.
Orlando, Virginia Woolf
This classic story by Virginia Woolf was modelled on the personality of her close friend Vita Sackville-West. Orlando chooses her own sexual identity as she lives through three centuries as both a man and a woman. First masculine, then feminine, Orlando begins life as a young sixteenth-century nobleman, then gallops through the centuries to end up as a woman writer in Virginia Woolf's own time.
This playful mock biography of a historical figure is both a wry commentary on gender and, in Woolf's own words, a 'writer's holiday' which delights in its ambiguity and capriciousness.
Young Mungo, Douglas Stuart
After the success of his debut novel Shuggie Bain, Stuart returns with Young Mungo, an extraordinary second novel. Growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow, Mungo and James are born under different stars – Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic – and they should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all. Yet against all odds, they fall in love and dream of finding somewhere they belong.
Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving a voice to people rarely acknowledged in the literary world, Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the violence faced by many queer people, as well as the dangers of loving someone too much.
Some of these suggestions are from the Lit with Liberate book club reading list. If you're interested in LGBTQ+ literature and want to discuss these books and more, join us at the Library every other month for this casual and friendly group.
Happy 10 years of Channel Islands Pride in Guernsey!